Cultivate KC Visits with Members of Congress to Discuss Urban Farming and Local Food System Priorities

In early February, Ami Freeberg, Director of Strategy and Partnerships, and Brien Darby, Executive Director of Cultivate KC, traveled to Washington DC to take part in the winter meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Cultivate KC is a member organization in the coalition along with local partners Kansas Rural Center, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and The Land Institute. 

Connecting with farmers, farm service providers, and local food advocates from across the country provided the opportunity to compare notes on how recent federal administration Executive Orders and actions are impacting farmers and local food systems. The funding freeze has halted work in farmer education and technical assistance, conservation efforts, food access work, farmland preservation, and countless other programs that have improved local food systems and our environment over the past decades. Sadly, this completely manufactured crisis is still unfolding and we are yet to know the full scope of the impact on our communities.  

In addition to coalition work, CKC scheduled meetings with Members of Congress who represent the Kansas City area. In these meetings, it was our goal to share the following: 

• The importance of retaining funding for voluntary conservation programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which provide cost share to farmers implementing both short and long-term conservation efforts to address resource concerns on their properties. Both programs have historically been over-subscribed in both Missouri and Kansas, with only 25-30% of applications being awarded due to funding constraints. Additional funding was added to these programs through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and we are now having to advocate to keep those funds allocated to conservation efforts. In fact, Cultivate KC has been awarded a Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant that would use IRA funds to increase access to conservation programs to urban growers throughout the KC area. 

• The economic impact of the Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program and SNAP in general. From 2020-2024, we saw a huge return on investment from this program with an estimated economic impact of $3.3m in Kansas and $5.5m in Missouri through the sale of local produce at both grocery stores and farmers markets. 

• The growing importance of urban agriculture in our community as evidenced by the recent formation of a USDA Urban Service Center that serves both Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS. We have also seen an increase in the number of grant awards issued to KC-based farms and non-profits dedicated to growing our local food system, as well as an increase in the total number of urban farms and gardens in our area.  

Despite positive reactions to this information from most our Members of Congress, the reality stands that we are in the midst of a crisis, and our representatives can and should be better advocates on our behalf. The unlawful freeze on federal grant and loan programs has put our already fragile food system in jeopardy. Cultivate KC is one of thousands of organizations awaiting news of grant cancellations and future funding freezes for programs previously approved by Congress.  

Pictured l to r: James Bowden; Sustain-A-Grain, Brien, Ami, Tom Buller; Kansas Rural Center – Tammy Kimbler; The Land Institute, James, Tom.

These actions threaten local farmers and our food community. Without immediate and sustained action from our community, work to support local farmers and improve access to healthy food will remain in peril for the foreseeable future. Cultivate KC recommends the following actions you can take today. 

ACTION STEPS:

1. Contact your members of Congress. Continued pressure to release funds and maintain existing programs is vital. If you want guidance on language to use, a sample script is provided at the end of this post. 
2. Support Cultivate KC by volunteering your time. The more individuals who understand the real work being done throughout our city’s urban farming landscape, the louder our voices become when advocating for local farmers and our food system. 
3. Donate today or become a member of the Dripline, our recurring donor program. Monetary donations are unrestricted funding, which can provide immediate support to the programs needing it the most.  
4. Buy from local farmers. Now is the time to sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture share or visit your local winter farmers markets. Might we suggest the New Roots CSA? The best way to strengthen our local food system in a time of crisis is to keep our food dollars in our community.  

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SAMPLE SCRIPT:

Hello,

I am a constituent of Senator/Representative _________________ and I am contacting you today to express my deep concern about the ongoing impacts of the federal funding freeze on farmers and our food system. I’m asking Senator/Representative __________________ to take bold action to:

• Ensure USDA honors its legal obligations and releases payments to farmers and organizations on signed contracts without delay to avoid causing any further impacts to farmers and the organizations that work with them.
• Enact swift passage of a fiscal year (FY) 25 spending bill that sustains funding for critical sustainable agriculture programs.
• Develop a new, comprehensive, and bipartisan farm bill that addresses Coalition priorities to advance conservation, reform the farm safety net, build resilient food and farm systems, and much more.

Thank you.

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