When Makeesha Munro and her partner Travis Jones started their farm in Collins, Missouri, they didn't expect to be traveling across the state to sell the culinary mushrooms they grow. Jones was semiretired and looking for a way to leverage their property for additional income. One night, they decided to dive into farming mushrooms. After a few late-night online purchases, Root 54 Farm was up and running.
They made some mistakes along the way. But with the help of a now-defunded program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they spend almost 15 hours a week traveling to various farmers markets and selling to other buyers in Sedalia, Joplin and Springfield.
"Owning a business is overwhelming," Jones said. "Farming is overwhelming. When the two come together, it's super overwhelming. So we are really grateful to people who help."
The Heartland Regional Food Business Center was a part of a Biden administration program aimed at increasing the resilience of local food systems following the COVID-19 pandemic. The program aimed to help small and midsized farms with things like market access and technical assistance to help them grow and maintain their businesses. But under Trump administration budget cuts, USDA terminated the program.
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