Governor Laura Kelly today joined Kansas Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Beam and Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary David Toland to visit Yoder Meats in Yoder, Kansas. Governor Kelly announced over $9 million has been committed for projects to strengthen the state’s food supply system. Yoder Meats is one of 183 Kansas agriculture and food-related businesses and individuals across the state awarded grants as part of the Securing Local Food Systems grant program.
The Securing Local Food Systems grant is one of several grants made possible in the second round of the federal CARES Act funding and approved by the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Task Force. It was created to increase capacity of Kansas’ local food systems and available to for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, including direct-to-consumer producers/growers/vendors, food processors, slaughter and processing facilities, food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, farmers’ markets, and retail food outlets such as grocery stores.
“These grants will allow local food and agriculture businesses to expand their capability to respond to the food supply needs in their communities,” Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam said. “Local businesses are critical to providing food to Kansans, and that need was made clear over throughout this year.”
The grant money can be used for a wide scope of capital expenses related to increasing the capacity of the food-related businesses, including but not limited to: rental of buildings/facilities to expand capacity, facility reconfiguration to meet social distancing guidelines, technology that improves business resilience, costs associated with sanitation or worker safety, costs associated with increased inspections, and many more. Grants will cover capacity-related improvements made since March 1, 2020, through December 30, 2020. The grants range from $2,500 to $100,000, depending on the type of applicant and the project scope.
Applications were accepted beginning August 19, 2020, and were reviewed by the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Department for Children and Families, and the Kansas Department of Commerce. Other grants that were awarded in the second round of the CARES Act funding included funding for small business working capital, PPE procurement and manufacturing, bioscience product development, community connectivity and broadband, and more.
Included in the Grant Funding is:
Meade County:
Meade Locker and Processing, Meade — $60,000
Meade Thriftway, Meade — $10,000
Wiens Wagyu, Meade — $25,000
Seward County:
Hat Creek Butchery, Liberal — $100,000
Stanton County:
K & S Meat Processing, Johnson — $100,000
Wholly Cow Market, Johnson — $75,000
A complete list can be found at https://governor.kansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Securing-Local-Food-Systems-grant-recipients-1.pdf
