Educational Program for Kansas Grape Growers ($33,500) – Enhance the competitiveness of the Kansas wine industry by increasing the knowledge level of grape growers and wine producers. Kansas State University (KSU) will participate in the project and will subcontract with the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology (ICCVE) at University of Missouri and other states for delivery of educational services.
21st Century Farmers Markets: Profitability Through Awareness ($41,751) – Partner with the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops (KCSAAC) to provide education and training through a statewide farmers market conference; develop a website and blogs to promote markets and educate consumers, market growers and market managers; and stimulate increased consumption of Kansas grown fruits and vegetable through focused marketing on ten specialty crops and a farmers market week promotional cost share.
Establish Kansas Wine Quality Certification and Marketing Program ($30,000) – The basic reason quality is of such importance toward the establishment of Kansas wines is the customer base. Over half of the sales in Kansas wineries can be attributed to tourists or first-time customers. As Kansas is not yet established as a quality wine region, the customer is often skeptical and thus very critical of their first taste of Kansas wines. If the wine is not crafted in a quality manner, the customer will more than likely judge the entire state based on that first tasting. The main components of a wine quality program are the wine evaluation process, the recognition method and the marketing of the program wines.
HCC Research and Instruction Vineyard ($16,650) – Train future vineyard and winery employees and (hopefully future) owners. We plan to hire fulltime viticulture and enology faculty this summer and begin offering certificate and degree programs in Fall 2009. This Research and Instruction Vineyard will provide vital infrastructure for training students and will eventually provide product for an Instruction and Commercial Winery to be built later. HCC has already expended funds and assigned additional funding to viticulture and enology endeavors, but the vineyard project is not yet fully funded. All funding received from KDA will go toward the vineyard, and monies from other sources could then be diverted toward further curriculum development and basic winery equipment to be used for enology training.
High Tunnel Agriculture Construction and Use ($2,432) – The construction of and use of a high tunnel greenhouse. For growing food to be used by the Culinary Arts program at Flint Hills Technical College. Also, to be used in workshops and classes in the community for farmers, growers, and vocational agriculture programs in our region. The purpose is to offer training and information on high tunnel agriculture to help develop a stronger local market agriculture in our region and throughout that state of Kansas. Also, to help promote nutrition, health and wellness in our community by showing the benefits of locally produced food. The high tunnel will be constructed using low-cost materials available locally, using the information supplied by Ted Carey at K-State Research and Development Center in Olathe, Kansas.
Growing, Marketing, and Training for Edible Mushroom Production in Kansas ($36,810) – Grow shitake and oyster mushrooms on a commercial scale, using inexpensive locally obtained materials (oak log, wheat straw), out-of-doors at the KSU Horticultural Willow Lake Student Farm. The students are currently selling vegetables and herbs at the farmers markets and other venues and will benefit from product diversification. Keith Unruh-Carey has worked out the detailed growing requirements for the oyster mushroom in KS and has been selling them for a year and is willing to teach this to student farm interns and others through hands-on workshops and training. Rhonda Janke has been growing shitake mushrooms on her farm in Wamego for over 6 years and will share her experiences as well. The net result of this project will be more trained mushroom growers in Kansas, more supply, and hopefully continued increase in demand to absorb this supply through consumer education and marketing events ("shop with a chef" etc.).
Increase Winegrape Production Using Cost-Share Monies to Purchase Specialized Equipment ($20,000) – Assist Kansas wine/grape growers who are producing crops for Kansas Farm Wineries, this project will provide cost-share monies for the purchase of specialized vineyard equipment. Specialized vineyard equipment will mechanize operations and yield efficiencies in the vineyard. This would allow growers to increase both quantity and quality of Kansas grapes supplied to Kansas Farm Wineries. The overall result: industry growth.
Expanding the Kansas River Valley Local Foods Website to Serve All Kansas Communities ($28,050) – Increase the volume and market share of specialty crops in Kansas through expansion of the Kansas River Valley Local Foods website to a state-wide local foods/ specialty crop website. This website will link local farmers and ranchers with wholesale institutional buyers such as school systems, universities, and restaurants, along with retail buyers such as buying clubs and individual Kansas families.