urban agriculture

East High School is celebrating 100 years of educating students in Kansas City. Over the past century, it's transformed into one of the area's most diverse schools.

At East High School in Kansas City, students help care for row farms, flowering plants and herds of goats, chickens, turkeys and more. It’s the only program of its kind in a Missouri public school, with one in five students participating.

The USDA has canceled a grant program that supported small and emerging farmers, cutting nearly $300 million nationwide. Kansas City-area organizations like Cultivate KC and MyCo Planet say the loss is disrupting projects already in progress.

Through Kansas City’s land bank program, Jameson Hubbard bought 16 small lots along Highland Avenue and turned them into farmland. He sells produce at the Overland Park Farmers' Market and through a CSA program.

Despite its long history of valuable service to the community, recent challenges within the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council have cast doubt on the future of the organization and the residents of the neighborhood. Now, past and present generations of leadership are working to rebuild faith, and instill hope in residents of this east side community.

With about 85 members, including individuals with just a single plant as well as those with acres of land, Kansas City Black Urban Growers, or KCBUGS, works to address obstacles faced by Black farmers and improve community health.

MO Hives KC has 10 Kansas City locations that facilitate bee pollination for neighborhood gardens as well as a small apiary at Gov. Mike Parson’s residence.

Urban farms can take blighted vacant lots and turn them into green space that provides food for neighborhoods, but in Kansas City and the Midwest, they struggle to get that land from private owners and city land banks. Plus: For one local forager, fall weather is the best time for hunting mushrooms.

Urban farmers are trying to buy vacant lots for their farms to bring fresh, healthy food and green space to their neighborhoods, but they face challenges in acquiring that land.

Kansas City has more than 5,000 vacant lots. The Heartland Conservation Alliance wants to renovate a 20-acre urban forest in a neighborhood on the east side of the city — but not until they hear what neighbors want.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture has opened applications for a grant for urban farmers who tackle food insecurity in their communities. While grants are crucial for urban farms, some find this one to be inaccessible.

Mo Hive KC has helped create nearly a dozen beehives in Kansas City community gardens and rooftops over the last two years. Now they've expanded their hives to Jefferson City in the hopes of educating the public about conservation and exposing youth to urban agriculture.