May 9, 2017
Kansas Ag Growth Strategy Project
Growing the Kansas economy means we must grow the state’s largest industry – agriculture. The Kansas Agricultural Growth Strategy project is a direct result of a 2015 Governor's Economic Council discussion focused on the development of a statewide strategic growth plan for agriculture.
Throughout 2016, more than 300 meetings were held with agriculture industry leaders to discuss the opportunities in and the barriers to economic growth. In August 2016, the Kansas Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Growth was held in Manhattan, Kansas, bringing together nearly 400 leaders from across industry sectors under one roof to talk about barriers, challenges, opportunities, growth goals and next steps. Those discussions, along with other input both before and after the Summit, have been summarized into desired growth outcomes for 19 specific agricultural sectors in Kansas.
The outcomes document has been published on the Kansas Department of Agriculture website, www.agriculture.ks.gov/GrowAg, along with documents providing expanded background information for each of those 19 sectors. All content within these documents are the compilation of feedback and direct input from agricultural stakeholders during the pre-meetings, Summit and subsequent meetings. This is not the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s growth plan — this is a strategic growth plan from Kansas agriculture for Kansas agriculture. While KDA initiated this discussion and coordinated the process, these plans contain the outcomes ag leaders told us were needed for growth.
Collaboration has been the key to the Growth Strategy project to this point, and continued partnership will be critical to the next steps of the process as well. In consultation with industry partners, individual action plans for each outcome have been developed, and implementation of these action plans will require leadership and participation within each agricultural sector.
Please plan to participate in the 2017 Kansas Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Growth on August 24, 2017, details to come soon. The success of this industry-wide Growth Strategy project depends on continued partnership throughout the Kansas agricultural industry. Thank you.
Link to Outcomes Document: https://agriculture.ks.gov/docs/default-source/ag-growth-summit/ag-growth-outcomes-only-document.pdf?sfvrsn=12
Link to 2017 Ag Summit Info: www.agriculture.ks.gov/Summit
--Heather Landsdowne, Director of Communications, KDA