Conversations with Katie Nixon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Nixon.  

Hi Katie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up in KC was great, but what set me on my path is the love of nature I acquired through our Family trips to Colorado. When thinking about college, I wanted to go somewhere with mountains and where I could get a degree in something related to environmental work. I was fortunate to have parents that supported my choices. I choose to attend Western Washington University. It was there that I fell into the world of sustainable agriculture. I was in love immediately. My dad always had a huge garden when I was growing up, so I had an appreciation for a great-tasting tomato. So, food drew me in, and the community I found kept me there. There is a lot to say about the in-between time from when I left KC at 18 and from when I returned when I was 31. I traveled, studied, and lived in several countries. In 2008, I had landed back in Washington after living abroad and was at a retreat center in the middle of the woods in Oregon for a week (no cell phone service). When I came “back to civilization,” I had several messages from my mom telling me about a job opening in KC with Lincoln University. That is what drew me back home. I worked for Lincoln University Cooperative Extension as a Small Farm Specialist for a time, and that is when I met my man, someone who caught my eye immediately! Ken had recently moved to Missouri and purchased a farm in Wheatland. We met on a farm tour shortly after he had moved to the area, we exchanged numbers at and he would call me for “farming advice”. He later told me it was an excuse to get to know me, even though there was nothing wrong with my farming advice! Our relationship started almost at the same time the farm started. We built it together and eventually got married. We have been farming now for 11 years, providing Certified Organic food for the KC community through our CSA, online sales, and wholesale (through the KC Food Hub, Whole Foods, and a few restaurants). I have not given up working with farmers and still have an off-farm job with a non-profit as the Food Systems Director. I am also a co-founder and president of the Kansas City Food Hub, a farmer cooperative that provides food to KC with a big focus on schools and feeding our kiddos! 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I very much appreciate the advantages I have had in life and do not take those for granted. I have tried to make the most of those advantages and give back in ways that I feel like I can. My passion is to improve our food system, something that is massively corrupted by money, power, and control. Farming is hard enough on its own, then you add on layer upon layer of mechanisms in the food system that are designed to take control from farmers. As a beginning farmer, which I was, you have to learn so much about how to grow the food and take care of the animals. On top of that, you have to wear so many other hats to run the business. A lot of farmers I know, myself included, just want to grow good food, but find themselves trying to hustle that food and it doesn’t always feel good. We have had 1000s of great customers over the years, and I remember a lot of them, but it’s always the really annoying or mean ones you remember the most. When we were selling at the farmers market, I remember setting up one Saturday morning. It was late spring. We were exhausted and had been up since 3:30 am. I had just set out beautiful bunches of beets and set up the price card. A customer came through sipping what was likely a $5 espresso from the Roasterie, picked up one of the bunches, and then looked at the price and exclaimed, “$4, no thanks.” It’s moments like those where you question why you are breaking your back to grow this food. Farmers are at the bottom of the food chain and have been deliberately kept there. I farm to keep myself grounded and humble. I do my food system work to fight for farmers and a better food system. 

Climate change is probably the most concerning thing in our lives at the moment. The seasons have been hotter and dryer and harder to predict. It has us both very worried about the future and the future of our farm. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Green Gate Family Farm is known for high-quality eggs, cut flowers, and certified organic plants, produce, and herbs. We sell Duck eggs and have several customers who that is a game changer for. Their children have chicken egg allergies but can eat duck eggs. We also sell goose eggs in the spring. For the last seven years, we have sold our certified organic plants to all three Whole Foods stores in Kansas City. We are one of the few Certified Organic CSAs or farm subscription services available in the KC area. 

We are proud to be Certified Organic. We still believe in the strength of the label despite recent attempts to weaken the standards by large companies, like the inclusion of hydroponic agriculture. We became Real Organic Project certified in 2018 as a way to make it known that our farm believes in growing food in the soil and being good stewards of that resource. 

What’s next?
The farm has reached a plateau. We are finally settling into some good systems that we are getting good at and plan to get better at them to improve yields and the health of the farm and the health of the farmers (body and mind!). So, we plan to continue growing good food for people who want it. In the next couple of years, we are going to be looking for ways to invite more people to the farm. We have had conversation about what that could look like. . .an artist retreat. . .an education farm for new farmers. . . a community gathering place . . . a place to experience agriculture. . .agritourism. . .things like that. 

For my food systems work, starting July 1st, I will be co-directing a new five-state initiative, the Heartland Regional Food Business Center (RFBC). The RFBC will help farm and food businesses with business technical assistance and getting access to resources. This is part of a national USDA initiative recently announced. There are 11 others serving other areas of the USA. 

Contact Info:

• Website: GreenGateFamilyFarm.com
• Instagram: green_gate_family_farm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenGateFamilyFarm/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-m-nixon/