KC Food Circle Memberships
Because we recognize farmers continue to experience unique challenges during this time, KC Food Circle memberships will continue to be free for 2024.
Eligibility
KC Food Circle™ membership is open to farmers and local food businesses operating within a 120 mile radius of Kansas City. Farmers commit to using sustainable and organic practices (even if they are not necessarily certified) as outlined in the KC Food Circle™ Farmers' Pledges (see below to review the pledges). Local food businesses source from or support our growers.
KC Food Circle™ is committed to promoting sustainable agriculture while recognizing the economic challenges of small farms in competition with subsidized, large-scale, petrochemical agriculture. Farmers should feel comfortable with the farmers' pledges, as they are the guidelines that help buyers understand how their food is grown.
KC Food Circle™ membership is open to farmers and local food businesses operating within a 120 mile radius of Kansas City. Farmers commit to using sustainable and organic practices (even if they are not necessarily certified) as outlined in the KC Food Circle™ Farmers' Pledges (see below to review the pledges). Local food businesses source from or support our growers.
KC Food Circle™ is committed to promoting sustainable agriculture while recognizing the economic challenges of small farms in competition with subsidized, large-scale, petrochemical agriculture. Farmers should feel comfortable with the farmers' pledges, as they are the guidelines that help buyers understand how their food is grown.
HOW TO JOIN
- Farmers, carefully review the farmers' pledges below. If your practices align with the practices outlined in the pledges, continue to step two. Businesses and other local food partners, if you're sourcing from or working with at least one KC Food Circle Farmer on a regular and consistent basis or other local farmers using practices that align with our pledges, continue to step two.
- Fill out the application linked below. (Please note, Member Applications are for both existing and new members.)
- Our staff will review your application and send you an email outlining next steps.
- Get ready to connect with new buyers and have a great season!
Benefits to the KC Food Circle™ Membership
- Profile in the KC Food Circle™ Directory, which includes a brief description, product categories, photos and a link to your online store, website and/or social media page(s).
- An invitation to be a vendor at the Eat Local & Organic Expo. Mark your calendar for early April of each year! The Expo has typically attracted 2000 attendees each year. Additional tabling fees apply
- KC Food Circle™ designation on the regional Eat Local KC Map, which helps shoppers and wholesale buyers learn about your farm. Your profile on the map can include information such as which restaurants you sell to, whether you offer CSAs, and if shoppers can find you at a nearby market. In addition to KC Food Circle™ farmer listings, the map includes:
- Restaurants: The restaurants you sell to are included on the map and it's a great way to find other restaurants that might be interested in sourcing local foods.
- Grocery Stores: The grocery stores you sell to are also included on the map. Another great way for customers to find your products and for you to find stores sourcing locally.
- Community Supported Agriculture programs: If you have a CSA, please describe it in your farm listing so we can highlight it on the map.
- Farmers Markets: The markets you attend are included on the map making it easy for consumers to locate the one nearest them.
- Resources for Farmers: Looking for resources on wholesale, food safety, or value added processing? We can help. Looking assistance as a beginning farmer or rancher? We've got that, too. If you can't get what you need from our resource list, reach out and our team can point you in the right direction. Contact Claire Sinovic.
- Advocacy Resources: We'll keep you updated on legislative issues, grant opportunities and partnership possibilities and we'll provide opportunities for you to weigh in on policy issues impacting Kansas City area producers.
FARMERS' PLEDGES
PLANT AND MUSHROOM FARMER'S PLEDGE
Understanding that we must first build and then preserve healthy soil in order to grow healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and mushrooms, we require all our plant and mushroom farmer-members to sign this pledge. I pledge:
ANIMAL FARMER'S PLEDGE
Understanding that we can only be healthy if the meat, poultry, eggs, and milk we eat come from healthy animals, and believing that farm animals deserve to be allowed to perform behaviors essential to their well-being, we require all our animal farmers to sign this pledge. I pledge:
BEEKEEPER'S PLEDGE
Healthy honey comes from properly managed, healthy hives. We require all our honey-selling beekeeper/farmer members to sign this pledge.
In establishing this pledge, we use the guidelines established in the Certified Naturally Grown Apiary Standards (CNGAS) as a general guide. I pledge:
Understanding that we must first build and then preserve healthy soil in order to grow healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and mushrooms, we require all our plant and mushroom farmer-members to sign this pledge. I pledge:
- To enhance the health of the land I farm, prevent erosion, and limit losses due to crop diseases through such methods as: the proper application of manure and compost to the soil; planting “green manure” crops and nitrogen-fixing legumes; rotational plantings of complementary crops; drip irrigation; and fallowing
- To never use synthetic nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium fertilizers
- To reduce losses due to insects through such methods as: crop rotation and diversity; encouraging the presence of animals that prey on insects; and insect predator introduction
- To deal with unwanted plants in my fields through such methods as: cover-cropping, mulching, manual removal, tilling, and flame-weeding
- To only use fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides (including those used on treated seeds), and other biocides that are on the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program’s “National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances”
- To never use genetically engineered seeds
- To use potable water when washing produce
- To ensure that any fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, mushrooms and/or value-added products I sell or distribute from other local farms were produced in accordance with this pledge
ANIMAL FARMER'S PLEDGE
Understanding that we can only be healthy if the meat, poultry, eggs, and milk we eat come from healthy animals, and believing that farm animals deserve to be allowed to perform behaviors essential to their well-being, we require all our animal farmers to sign this pledge. I pledge:
- To house the animals on my farm in outdoor pastures and/or pens with breed-appropriate shelter and bedding material available (temporary exceptions for medical treatment and breeding are allowed)
- To provide living conditions that will support the normal behavior and social interactions of each species on my farm so that the animals will thrive and to reduce the incidence of injury, stress, and disease
- To only use antibiotics, parasiticides, and other pharmaceutical drugs therapeutically in response to disease, infestation, or injury
- To never use synthetic growth promotants; this includes, but is not limited to, hormone treatments such as rBGH injections in dairy cows and implants in beef cattle as well as subtherapeutic antibiotics and arsenic in feed
- To never provide commercial feed that contains domestic animal byproducts; this includes, but is not limited to, animal waste, meat, blood, bones, hair, hooves, and feathers (fishmeal approved for use in organic agriculture is permitted)
- To never use conventional herbicides and/or synthetic fertilizers on my pastures and/or hayfields
- To ensure that any meats, dairy products, poultry, eggs, fish, and/or value-added products I sell or distribute from other local farms were produced in accordance with this pledge
- To never knowingly feed my animals genetically engineered feed
BEEKEEPER'S PLEDGE
Healthy honey comes from properly managed, healthy hives. We require all our honey-selling beekeeper/farmer members to sign this pledge.
In establishing this pledge, we use the guidelines established in the Certified Naturally Grown Apiary Standards (CNGAS) as a general guide. I pledge:
- That the primary purpose of my hives is to collect local pollen and produce honey for local markets, not for mobile application for crop pollination off site
- My hives will not be located on conventionally farmed land
- My hives will not be placed in low-lying and wet areas;
- They will receive a minimum number of hours of sunlight exposure
- To avoid using any CNGAS prohibited substances/chemicals to control disease
- To not import and use of any hive, harvest and honey processing component that has been in contact with any prohibited substance or may have been used in a biologically contaminated setting elsewhere
- To ensure that any honey, honeycomb, or beeswax I sell or distribute from other local farms were produced in accordance with this pledge
