By Kim Baldwin, McPherson County farmer and rancher
October is generally jam-packed for my family, and this year is no exception. Attending my son’s football games, finishing up our calving season, celebrating birthdays, continuing fall harvest and preparing to sow wheat have taken up the majority of my family’s attention and effort this month.
My mother-in-law, the kids and I added to our October schedule by recently participating in a market of farms pop-up event organized by Shop Kansas Farms and Kansas Farm Bureau. Producers from across Kansas brought their products to the pop-up market to increase visibility, connect with customers and ultimately sell their goods.
My family, minus my father-in-law and husband who stayed home to keep harvesting, took our popcorn and popcorn popper to the event and had a fantastic day of handing out samples, having great conversations and sending customers home with our product.
A number of people I visited with at the market have since connected with me through social media or email.
Many of these messages have centered around October being Farm to School Month and how many Kansas schools participate with other states within the region in an annual Crunch Off competition.
The goal of the October Crunch Off is to see how many students, staff and community members can crunch an ag product from their state as a way to highlight locally grown items.
Since many schools have their own popcorn poppers, and popcorn makes a great crunchable snack, we’ve sent bags of our Kansas-grown popcorn to schools all across our state for these events.
While there’s still plenty of October remaining, it’s been quite rewarding to connect with schools, see pictures from their social media of their students crunching our popcorn and even discussing opportunities to incorporate our little popping crop in their school concessions or cafeterias to use well beyond Farm to School Month.
As Kansas farmers, we know the wheat, sorghum, corn and soybeans we harvest annually on our farm help feed and fuel the world — even though we don’t know exactly who uses the grain once we deliver to the elevator. Our popcorn crop, on the other hand, has allowed us a personalized window into the lives, homes and communities of those we are helping feed. It’s allowed us the opportunity to connect with consumers, to share our story and to serve as a resource.
It’s become increasingly clear to me that more and more people want to know about their food and the people who grow it. Events like the pop-up market and school Crunch Offs are examples of ways to create connections between family farms and consumers while highlighting the great products being produced within our state.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.
