May 19, 2025
By Rick McNary
In my work in the international hunger space over the past two decades, I discovered the important role that supporting smallholder farmers had to do with ending hunger and providing food security. A smallholder farmer is defined as someone farming on five to 10 acres of land, and there are more than 570 million smallholder farmers who provide about one-third of the global food supply.
I personally know many of them through the work I have done in Central and South America as well as various parts of Africa. More than half of them are women and most of the work is done with either animal-powered equipment such as a team of oxen pulling a single-bottom plow or hand-held equipment like a hoe or scythe. Most of these farmers are the poorest of the poor.
However, major efforts by universities both in America and foreign countries, coupled with governmental agency support and corporate engagement, have prioritized providing them the opportunity to grow more nutritious crops on the same amount of soil with less water and chemical inputs in such a way that brings prosperity. The fancy word for this is sustainable intensification.
Although I am not farmer, scientist, government agent or corporate representative, I have served as a project manager for these various sectors on agricultural projects such as helping Maasai women off grid in rural Tanzania create an integrated business model using dairy goats to provide milk, cheese and yogurt for their families, students in local schools and to sell at their local market.
In addition, we created a more holistic plan for the entire village that included raising livestock in such a way that complemented higher-margin cash crops (hops, for example) rather than corn. One of the remnants in Africa of European colonialism is the popularity of corn, which can be either animal or human food. The problem is, compared to other crops, corn is lower in protein and in developing countries, protein-deficiency is a major contributor to malnutrition. Plus, corn takes a lot more water to raise than sweet potatoes, which offer more nutrients.
The challenge in working in developing countries is there is also zero room for experimentation. If you try a new crop and it fails, that farmer – and the village – goes hungry until the next crop. There is no room for error.
Therefore, groups who worked for solutions on behalf of the farmer knew they had to build the necessary infrastructure to create success. Those same principles are what we use to create our Shop Kansas Farms’ Harvest Hub models, the first one being the Border Queen Harvest Hub in Caldwell and one we will launch soon, the Sedgwick County Harvest Hub.
Market Access
Whether it is Africa or Kansas, farmers who grow plants and/or animals work hard and have little time to find a market for their product. That’s where we come in. We give farmers free market access to more than 169,000 consumers through our Facebook group, newsletters and Market of Farms events.
Technology
We are the digital hub that connects all three components of a food system: production, processing and distribution. With our social media and digital media, we advertise for all three components.
Food System Infrastructure
We are focused on rebuilding the processing and distribution components for local food production. For example, we are about to finish the construction work on the Border Queen Harvest Hub commercial kitchen in Caldwell, which is an important part of the processing component. In addition, we’ve helped producers find local distribution channels like Ellis Island in Belle Plaine, Sunny Creek Trading Post in Ponca City and Hagar Acres in Caldwell.
Education
I spent time working with USAID’s Farmer- to-Farmer program and learned quickly the success rate for farmers was in direct correlation with the amount of education (technical assistance) they were provided. We not only host workshops for our farmers, ranchers and growers, but connect them to other groups who provide educational opportunities.
Access to Capital
Although we don’t provide capital, we provide the connections and assist those needing it.
While the term “smallholder farmer” is not used to describe farmers in America, there is a growing number of people who want to figure out how to make a living on fewer acres of land by growing different crops.
We know there are people who want to grow food they can sell but can’t afford to purchase 1,000 acres of land or spend $1 million on equipment.
We also know there are people who do farm thousands of acres of land and own millions of dollars worth of equipment, but they are trying to figure out how to carve out a part of their farm and try something different.
We are here to support both because we are committed to all farmers, whether small or large, to be successful because it takes them all to provide food security for our world and our communities.