Our quarterly local food town halls are held virtually on Zoom and are open to anyone that is interested in learning more about local food projects, organizations, and opportunities across the state. Whether you want to buy local, start or grow a business, or cultivate your own food, we invite you to join us. The town halls are held at 11 a.m. on the last Wednesday of January, April, July, and October. The town halls are also recorded and archived below.
2026 Town Halls: January 28, April 29, July 29, October 28
You must re-register to receive the links for the 2026 Town Halls!
Past Events
The July Town Hall included information on the Impact of Urban Agriculture on Community Health presented by Dr. Sheila Abacan, Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program projects from Brittney Grother, KDA, and K-State’s Produce Safety Demonstration Unit & Mobile Lab presented by Dr. Manreet Bhullar.
The recording is unavailable. Attendees heard from Eric Sannerud with GrownBy about their platform for farmers to accept SNAP payment directly. Thomas Smith with the KC Food Hub and Tom Buller with Kansas Rural Center spoke about their plans for a new Kansas Food Hub Working Group.
Slides (PDF)
Links (PDF)
Lightning Presentations: Food Is Medicine Pilot Program in Kansas, Sunflower Foundation; Development of Resilient Urban Food Systems, K-State Olathe
Due to a tech snafu, there is no recording of the July 2024 town hall. Slides and links are below. Sorry!
Slides: July 2024 (pdf)
Links: July 2024 (pdf)
Speakers: The Farm Bill & Local Food (Dr. Jennifer Ifft); Heartland Farm to School/ECE Institute (Eryn Davis); Hunger Free Kansas (Lindsay Wilke); Heartland Regional Food Business Center (Jenny Doty)
Slides: April 2024 (pdf)
Links: April 2024 (pdf)
Speakers: Kansas Food Action Network; K-State Urban Food Systems Initiative; Kansas Black Farmers Association; KC Healthy Kids Food System Planning
January 2024 slides (PDF)
Links from speakers & chat (PDF)
Featured Speakers/Topics: Center of Excellence for Regenerative Native Agriculture, Britni Beck; K-State 105, Jessica Gnad; Specialty Crop Block Grant, Brittney Grother; Kansas Healthy Food Initiative, Erica Blair
Slides: October 2023 slides (PDF)
Featured Speakers/Topics: Supporting a Zero Hunger World (Dr. Alicia Powers, Auburn University); Relationships between Food Insecurity and Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables (Jeremy Goering, KDHE); Community Resilience Hub (Sabrina do Rosario, Kansas Wesleyan University); Food Security Scholars (Adelaide Easter, Kansas State University)
Slides: July 2023 Slides
Featured Speakers/Topics: The Value of Local Food Economists (Dr. Becca Jablonski, CSU), Results of the Small-Scale/Urban Producer Needs Assessment (Dr. Katie Starzec, KSU), Resilient Food System Infrastructure Program (Trace Mulligan, KDA), Regional Food System Partnership Grant Updates (KSRE local food system staff)
Slides: January 2023
Featured Speakers / Topics: Update on Kansas Food Sales Tax Changes (KDOR), Food Waste Reduction (KSU PPI), Local food systems legislative updates from both Kansas Dept. of Agriculture and Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment
Slides: April 2022
Featured Topics / Speakers: Strategic Growth Initiative (KDA), Connections Between Social Determinants of Health and Local Food (KSU), Kansas Food Framework (Tori Laird)
Slides: January 2022
Featured Topics / Speakers: Food Systems Work at Kansas Action for Children, Kansas Appleseed, Network Kansas and KHFI, Urban Food Systems Certificate Program (KSU)
Slides: October 2021
Featured Topics / Speakers: Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Food Action Network, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Kansas Healthy Food Initiative, Kansas Farm to Plate (KSDE)