Small Dollars for Big Impact: How Micro-Grants Radically Improve Small Farm Operations 

When conservation is captured in acres, not feet, how do we talk about the impact of urban farms within the agricultural ecosystem?  I would argue one way is through ingenuity, creativity, and community impact. Most urban farms in the Midwest were not created solely focused on making a profit. The farmers have a strong desire to give back to their communities and the earth all while growing their small businesses. Last year, we profiled three urban farmers in and near Kansas City, Missouri who received micro-grants of $3,500 through a partnership between American Farmland Trust and a Kansas City-based urban agriculture non-profit, Cultivate Kansas City.  

We are thrilled to see the impact of these dollars and look forward to seeing what the next round of farmers create with the upcoming 2026 Get Farming micro-grants which will open in Missouri and Kansas later this fall!  

Nancy Kost, The Buffalo Seed Company 

“We realized that a lot of people were getting into the idea of where our food is coming from, but nobody was thinking about where our seed was coming from.”  

Born out of the minds of Nancy and Mathew Kost,  The Buffalo Seed Company specializes in locally and bioregionally grown seeds. Nancy grew up in the highland mountains of Bolivia where she grew hundreds of potato varieties with her grandfather. This curiosity led her to a master’s degree in Horticulture and Crop Science at Ohio State, where she continued to study biodiversity and seed adaptation. Mathew grew up in Western Kansas and found himself entrenched in agriculture and ecology, which eventually led him to a PhD in Evolutionary Ecology at Ohio State. The two met and fell in love over their shared interests in regenerative agriculture.  

Now parents to two children and two businesses, they spend their days cultivating, seed saving, and mowing their fields! The micro-grant award allowed Nancy and Mathew to reduce their time on field management by purchasing a used tractor to keep the weeds from going to seed and becoming unmanageable. This tractor turned a two-day job into just a few hours of work, which exponentially increases their time available to adapt seeds for drought tolerance. 

Robin Moore, MyCo Planet 

“We can grow a large amount of food in a small amount of space. Right now, we're at 1,000 pounds a week and we're not at capacity yet!”  

Robin Moore is the founder and owner of MyCo Planet, a specialized indoor mushroom farm in North Kansas City, Missouri. She began the farm out of a desire to find unique gourmet mushrooms, but she was unable to locate any. So, she started growing them herself! She quickly became known in the city as someone who has the “hook-up” and began growing for friends and family as well.  

Eventually, demand outpaced the capacity of her garage, and she opened her farm and storefront in a shared-used warehouse, but not without its challenges. Applying for a lease to create an Indoor Mushroom Grow Farm  raised a few landlords’ eyebrows. Eventually, she found one willing to work with her design, and MyCo Planet, as  it is now known, was born.  

Mushroom cultivation is a unique farming challenge that takes special considerations. There is a high risk of contamination when sterilizing and inoculating growing mediums. Robin loves gathering data on her operation and increasing efficiencies and as she noticed a contamination rate above commercial standards, she took the opportunity to tighten operations. With $3,500 , she built a new sterile inoculation room, substantially reducing  contamination. This saves her money, which goes towards paying her three full-time staff members! 

Sandra Machin, Maple Creek Urban Farm 

“We sell our products out here, out of our front yard. We got a tiny truck. We put it up there on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays. And then everything that I harvest here goes into the farmstand. And my neighbors can have access to this fresh product.”  

Sandra Machin started Maple Creek Urban Farm on top of a gravel parking lot. Little by little, she built up her soil through mulch, compost, and animal manure from her chickens and ducks. Feeding her family and her neighbors motivates her to keep growing, even through adversity.  

Maple Creek is named after the creek running through her farm, which is lined with maple trees. Last year, a heavy rain event washed away the bridge that connects the two sides of the farm and caused bank erosion. Sandra decided she could solve two problems at once! Using the $3,500 micro-grant, she purchased fruit trees to create an orchard along the creek bed. She hopes this will provide fresh fruit for her customers, but also believes having more roots in the soil will help it stay in place during heavy rains.  

These small farmers create a big impact on their communities and have inspirational stories to share. Click here to give directly to the next pool of Micro-grants with Cultivate KC.

To learn more, check out their farmer stories below!