The Farm to Fork Summit & Expo is a full day of meeting and learning from farmers, food buyers, and other people and organizations interested in regenerative agriculture, building local food and farm business opportunity, and making sure everyone eats well.

A $1.25 million Local Food for Schools grant to Missouri from the federal government will flow directly to schools that apply for the opportunity to plan and implement local food purchasing over an 18-month period starting this fall.

Rural Missouri community development corporation New Growth will co-lead the new Heartland Regional Foods Business Center with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) through a $25 million cooperative agreement award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Every local business is an asset from which new growth can emerge if we tend to the power of microenterprises, like micro-organisms in soil, to support new life. This is the essence of our mission at New Growth CDC.

Applications are open now for a free year of mentorship in Climate Smart farm conservation practices. Participants will receive 25 hours of one-one-one assistance from a team of experienced farmers who offer a broad spectrum of expertise.

Six area school districts are currently working through West Central Missouri Community Action Agency to find and purchase local foods. Another 15 are exploring the farm-to-school opportunity with help from West Central’s Farm to School Specialist. State reimbursement up to $1,000 is available.

Show your stuff in the national Farm to School crunch off! Up to $1,000 is available from the Missouri Department of Agriculture to schools that buy local produce by November 1, 2022. Help finding and working with local providers is available from our Farm to School Specialist.

The new Demystifying Wholesale video series features farmer-to-farmer advice on producing, packing, and marketing vegetables for local wholesale markets. It is produced by the Food Systems Program at West Central Missouri Community Action Agency as part of its Beginning Farmer Wholesale Project in association with the Growing Growers KC program.

Strawberries are here! And again this year, friends, family, and neighbors with limited budgets will be able to take locally produced fruits and vegetables home with them thanks to the Double Up Food Bucks Program. Seven farmers’ markets in west central Missouri participate. They are part of a national wave of communities adopting the Double Up Food Bucks approach to helping families, farmers, and communities grow healthy.

Katie Nixon is a farmer and a leader in the good food movement as Food Systems Director at West Central Missouri Community Action Agency. Backroad Production’s IN FOCUS podcast recently featured a conversation with Katie about several regional food and farm development initiatives, including her work with the New Growth community development corporation team.

The third-annual Farm to Fork Summit goes online in 2021 with big picture perspectives, practical workshops, and evening entertainment the first three Tuesdays in February (Feb. 2, Feb. 9, and Feb. 16.) Attendees also enjoy 24/7 access all month to recorded sessions and networking opportunities, such as discussion boards and exhibitor spaces. A mobile app lets attendees tune in and participate on the go, too.

Raydonna Biles makes lunch for her son every day. It keeps them both healthy. “I cook better for him than I would for myself alone. … Last time I went to the doctor, the doctor said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ My blood sugar was down. I’d lost weight.”