Kansas City Food Circle Directory of Local Organic and Free Range Food Producers

Who We Are

Welcome to the Kansas City Food Circle’s (KCFC) Directory of Local Organic and Free Range Food Producers. The KCFC was created to promote the development of a community food system that will nourish the present generation of Kansas Citians without degrading the ability of future generations to nourish themselves. We provide an alternative to the conventional agricultural system, which is dependent on farming practices that are destructive not only to our personal health but also to the rest of the community of life. Most of our work centers on making connections between area growers who agree to meet our organic produce or free range animal standards and people who want to eat delicious, healthy, locally-grown food.

What We Do

    * Educate the public about the health and ecological benefits of a small-scale, local, organic and free range food system

    * Increase the demand for locally-grown organic and free range food

    * Help small family farmers to earn a fair living and stay on the land

Beginning on page 7 of this Directory, you’ll find an updated list of our producer-members, which provides details about the foods they produce, how to buy from them, and their contact information. In addition, if you would like to learn about the benefits of eating locally-grown organic and free range foods, plus get some helpful hints on how to get started, you’ll find that information in the final section.

If you would like someone from the Food Circle to speak to your organization, send us an e-mail through our website: www.KCFoodCircle.org
We are primarily supported by member donations and would be happy to have you join us in our work, whether through contributions of money, time, or both. Our membership form is on the back cover of this Directory.
Why we promote local organic and free range agriculture

It becomes increasingly clear each year that the conventional agriculture system is not only unsustainable but terribly unhealthy. It’s highly-dependent on oil, natural gas and coal as energy sources and relies on fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and other biocides that are made from petroleum. These practices pollute the air, water and soil and emit large amounts of greenhouse gases in the process.

Given what climate scientists are telling us about the dangers of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we’re convinced that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous climate disruption. We’re also aware of the growing body of evidence that global oil production will peak and begin to decline in the foreseeable future. If this happens, the price of everything made from oil will rise dramatically, destabilizing the conventional agriculture system, and there may eventually be supply shortages.

In addition, North American natural gas prices are highly volatile and may lead to price increases for the nitrate fertilizers conventional farmers depend on, which are synthesized using natural gas. Consequently, we think we need to dramatically reduce the amounts of oil, natural gas, and coal we use to produce our food. Re-localizing our food system around small organic and free range farms will help us do that.
What is organic and free range agriculture?

As originally intended, “organic” refers to a comprehensive method for producing food that has been developed over time. It also refers to the movement that has arisen among growers who practice organic agriculture and the eaters who support them. Organic growers who are true to these original values strive to work with the processes of the living world rather than to overrule them.

Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants = Healthy People – organic agriculture is based on this principle. Consequently, organic plant growers work to build soil fertility biologically, not relying on inputs of a few essential synthetic fertilizers as conventional growers do. While organic standards allow some use of carefully-selected insecticides and herbicides, it is still best to avoid using these inputs as much as possible. For more details, see our Plant and Mushroom Farmers Pledge on page 27.

Because it has been difficult for small animal farmers to source organically-grown feed, we’ve never required our farmers to use it, though we encourage them to do so and are working to make that easier. Also, we think the complete prohibition of antibiotic use in the USDA Organic standards—even for sick animals—is too strict. Consequently, we have adopted the term “free range” to describe the animal treatment standards our farmers must agree to meet. You may have seen this term used elsewhere but were unsure about what it means.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture legally defines “free range” for use on food labels this way: “FREE RANGE or FREE ROAMING: Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”  We don’t think that goes nearly far enough. For details on our animal standards, see our Animal Farmers Pledge on page 27.  Every bite you take can be a vote for the development of a food system that will sustain us without degrading the life support systems of the planet if you choose to eat organic and free range foods.

Farmers Pledges

We require all our farmer-members to sign Farmers Pledges (See page 27-28). These Farmers Pledges only apply to the farming practices they use on their farms, not to the farming practices used to produce any off-farm ingredients in the processed foods they may sell (such as breads, jams, salsas, sausages, etc.). Also, one of our members, Paradise Locker Meats, is exclusively a retail store, not a farm, so they are not required to sign any Pledges.

While we are committed to promoting organic agriculture, we also recognize the economic and logistical difficulties inherent in running a small farm while society continues to subsidize and promote large-scale, petrochemical agriculture. Consequently, we consider exceptions to the standards described in these Pledges on a case-by-case basis.