BFRDP Projects

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas (CCNEK) in partnership with Cultivate Kansas City (CKC), used BFRDP funds for a successful incubator training farm called New Roots, and for new activities that supported the scaling up of refugee farmers to meet wholesale demand in the Kansas City area. The long term goal is that refugees farm in Kansas City independently on land that they own or lease at a scale that they desire and manage. To reach this goal, we identified the following objectives: Removal of Barriers to Marketing, Adapted and Increased Agricultural Skills, Financial Management and Farm Capitalization, and Whole Farm Planning.

The incubator farm program provides non-traditional lease agreements to gain access to land that require refugees to complete trainings and establish a path toward managing their own farm business. For each year of the program, refugee farmers take on additional responsibilities, taking the refugee farmer from dependency to independent farm business operator in 4 years. Specific emphasis is put on using equipment to maximize efficiency and profit, as well as teaching farmers how to plan infrastructure for their future farm sites. 

We achieved removal of barriers to marketing by placing farmers' at markets across the city and increasing the amount of customers who purchase farmers' aggregated produce. Additionally, we provided education about sales and sales support to remove barriers. We supported farmers to achieve adapted and increased agricultural skills through workshops, field trips, and in-field support. Financial management and farm capitalization were achieved through education, record keeping support, and planning. Our graduates worked towards whole farm planning with the support of our Graduate Specialist through workshops, conferences, grant application support, and site visits.