Kansas City-area farmers market vendor workshop set for Feb. 10

Area farmers market vendors and managers are invited to a one-day regional workshop Feb. 10 in Olathe, Kan.

“Selling food directly to consumers through farmers markets provides growers a chance to tell their farm’s story, but there are also legal, safety and financial parameters that farmers need to understand before choosing this marketing tool,” said Londa Nwadike, consumer food safety specialist with the University of Missouri Extension and Kansas State Research and Extension.

Presenters include Nwadike, representatives from the Kansas and Missouri departments of agriculture, and Missouri and Kansas farmers market vendors.

Workshop topics will include:

· Keynote address on successful farmers market vending.

· Update on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) — produce safety and processed foods.

· Double Up Food Bucks SNAP matching program.

· Food safety considerations for processed foods.

· Regulations on selling meat, eggs and poultry direct to consumers.

· Cover cropping and other soil health strategies.

Appropriate topics will have concurrent sessions for Kansas and Missouri vendors and farmers. Missouri vendors can have their sales scales certified for a small fee.

The workshop will take place at K-State University-Olathe, 22201 W. Innovation Drive, Olathe, Kan. The workshop runs 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Onsite registration opens at 8:30 a.m.

Registration, including lunch, is $20 per participant. Lunch cannot be guaranteed for those registering after Feb. 1.

Registration is available online at FromtheLandofKansas.com/FMConference. For more information, contact Londa Nwadike at 913-307-7391 or NwadikeL@missouri.edu.

Source: Londa Nwadike, 816-482-5850

For more than 100 years, University of Missouri Extension has extended university-based knowledge beyond the campus into all counties of the state. In doing so, extension has strengthened families, businesses and communities.