photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Gov. Laura Kelly appeared at Just Food in Lawrence in August to announce Kansas' new Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. The Kansas Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday it's now accepting applications from food producers who want to participate.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it’s now accepting applications from food producers who wish to participate in the state’s new Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.

The program, announced at the beginning of August in Lawrence, aims to strengthen the state’s local food system by providing expanded wholesale market access to Kansas’ food producers and increasing access to locally sourced food in rural and urban counties impacted by food insecurity.

Kansas food producers are encouraged to apply for the program and sell their products to food banks serving the state. Products that are eligible for sale through the program can include produce, dairy, meat, eggs, honey and processed foods, and they must be grown or processed in Kansas.

Kansas received $2.5 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cooperative agreement program that will be used to purchase and distribute food through the state’s existing network of Feeding America food banks. Locally, that includes Kansas City-area food bank Harvesters, which serves a 26-county area across northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, including Douglas County. Just Food is part of Harvesters’ network, and Harvesters announced in September that it would be moving its Topeka distribution facility to Lawrence sometime in 2023.

Applications are due to the Kansas Department of Agriculture no later than 5 p.m. Feb. 15, 2023. For more information, visit the Department of Agriculture’s website or contact the department’s grants coordinator, Brittney Grother, at brittney.grother@ks.gov or 785-564-6797.