Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance

Contact Info

Description

We are a cooperative of 6 organically oriented growers operating in four counties in Eastern Kansas.

Rolling Prairie is a cooperative fruit and vegetable subscription service. We are a coop of six growers. The majority of our produce has been certified organic. Several of us, however, have voluntarily surrendered our certification and, instead, have chosen to post our growing practices on our website. This allows our customers to view in detail our sustainable practices. We will occasionally offer our customers quality conventional produce grown by a neighbor (ex. IPM apples). This helps to give our customers value and variety. It also helps sustain the regional food system. As a coop, we grow in four counties in Eastern Kansas. This has several advantages for ourselves and our customers.

Rolling Prairie Farmer's Alliance is a special type of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). We call it a produce subscription service because our customers subscribe to our service for a season's worth of produce. The farmers in the alliance operate as a cooperative, which serves as a kind of insurance policy for the subscribers. The seven farms span four counties in the rolling prairie of Northeast Kansas. If one farm gets frosted, hailed out, flooded, dried up, or attacked by grasshoppers, chances are others can take up the slack. We become more efficient in our marketing efforts, which leaves us more time to concentrate on growing food without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We occasionally draw products from other local farmers to add variety.  While this produce isn't always organic, we do our best to make sure it is grown by conscientious local farmers.

We have been doing this longer than the vast majority of CSA's in the country, and Rolling Prairie is fairly unique as well in its cooperative structure.

Read more about "Community Supported Agriculture-Local Food"