Cultivating a Connected and Accessible Network of Agriculture Educators Serving Kansas City-Area Producers

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: networking

This project aims to strengthen Kansas City's network of agricultural educators and technical service providers (TSPs) to more effectively serve the region's food producers. The primary target audience includes agricultural educators and TSPs who support agricultural producers in the Kansas City region to improve economic viability, stewardship, and quality of life for growers and their communities. Secondary beneficiaries are local producers who will receive coordinated, high-quality educational resources.

Key outcomes include:

• Agriculture educators become better connected to each other to improve collaboration and support for producers
• Agriculture educators enhance their of local and regional resources to support producers with economic viability, stewardship, and quality of life
• Agriculture educators can more effectively connect with Kansas City's agriculture producers through increased visibility
• Agriculture educators better understand the needs of Kansas City's sustainable producers through shared data collection

To achieve these outcomes, the project will:

• Convene quarterly learning circles at area farms and gardens, fostering peer-to-peer learning opportunities among agriculture educators and the host producer.
• Develop and publish a public, searchable directory of agricultural educators on Cultivate KC's website to connect area farmers with the most applicable expertise.
• Create a shared communications channel for agriculture educators to exchange information and coordinate efforts to serve producers efficiently.
• Re-launch the KC Ag Counts! survey to gather data from 100-200 farmers annually.

These activities will cultivate a stronger, more connected network of agriculture educators equipped to advance Kansas City's agriculture ecosystem.

This project will build a more cohesive network of agriculture educators, strengthen communication across organizations, improve responsiveness to sustainable farmers' needs, and foster professional growth through shared learning opportunities locally and regionally.

1. Develop a cohort of KC-area agriculture educators/TSPs

Strengthen coordination and collaboration among agriculture educators to better serve the KC agriculture network.

• Host quarterly learning circles of agriculture educators focused on peer-to-peer education, learning from sustainable farmers, and sharing best practices across organizations.
  • Learning circles will be held at sustainable farms and gardens in the KC metro, giving producers a chance to showcase their work and demonstrate on-farm knowledge and experience to agriculture educators.
  • We expect 20-25 participants each quarter and 50 individual educators over the project's duration.
• Create a public directory of agriculture educators with their specialties and available resources provided by each organization, updated annually.
  • Hosted on the Cultivate KC's website, alongside other farmer-focused resources.
  • The directory will be public-facing and searchable by organization and area of expertise.
  • It will include 30-40 educators over the life of the project, offering expertise in sustainable agriculture practices, farm business planning, land linking, resource stewardship, production planning, funding opportunities, grant writing, soil health, and more.
  • The partner organizations will create a succession plan to ensure the directory stays up to date over time.
• Record audio introductions for each educator highlighting their expertise and organizational resources. These will help farmers identify the best fit for their farm business needs. Recordings will be uploaded with educator profiles in the directory.
  • 30-40 educators will complete introductions.
• Establish an internal communications channel for agriculture educators to quickly share information, resources, and advice while improving cross-organizational coordination.
  • Tools such as Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp will be evaluated based on educator feedback.
  • We expect 30-40 educators to participate actively in this channel.

2. Coordinate data collection through the KC Ag Counts! survey

Enhance educators' understanding of Kansas City metro producers' needs and help them adapt resources and programming accordingly.

• Provide stipends for up to four educators per year to assist with conducting survey outreach at farmers markets, field days, events, and other venues.
• Offer incentives for farmer participation, such as raffling gift cards to local farm stores.
• Expect 150-200 Kansas City-area producers to complete the survey each year of the grant.