Introduction Email or Phone Call to Chamber

Hello, we are GOTURSIX, a community development nonprofit building food enterprise in Missouri’s South Central Ozarks. We were recently selected by the University of Missouri Extension to implement Missouri EATs - a framework approach to better understanding what the Extension calls our “foodshed” or the network of people, places, processes, resources, and relationships through which food moves within and across a region. We already have plenty of desk research—reports, assessments, datasets, studies—that helps us understand the region on paper. What we're missing is the boots-on-the-ground intelligence about how the food system works here in this county.

So we are starting the conversation with local chambers of commerce in the 5 county scope. Would your chamber be willing to invite us to your next meeting so we can share more?”

Once we get a yes, we schedule the date and attend.

Then we share with them: what we know about the SO CEN MO foodshed based on current research. Ask these essential questions to all and stay open to feedback and curious about what assumptions could be:

Where do you get your food?

Does this research reflect your lived experience in your county.

What is missing from the data that we can’t see?

When you think about people producing food locally here, who comes to mind?

How are those producers getting their products to people now?

What seems to work well about that?

Where do they seem to run into trouble?

What people, businesses, or resources help make those connections happen?

Who are two or three people we should talk with next if we want to learn how this really works here?

FOODSHED
The five-county environment we're operating within.

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STRATEGIC FOCUS: THE MISSING MIDDLE
The connective space between local production and local markets/consumers.

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SEPT–OCT INFORMATION REQUIREMENT
Identify and document how that middle currently functions across the five counties—its people, pathways, assets, barriers, resources, and relationships.

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COLLECTION METHOD
Existing research + county profiles + Chamber conversations + referrals + producer stories + relevant regulatory/support partners.

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MO EATS PURPOSE
Bring that evidence and on-the-ground intelligence into the Local Leadership Team and community-engagement process so the community can validate and prioritize what matters.

We already have plenty of desk research—reports, assessments, datasets, studies—that helps us understand the region on paper. What we're missing is the boots-on-the-ground intelligence about how the food system works here in this county.

So we are starting the conversation with local chambers of commerce in the 5 county scope. Would your chamber be willing to invite us to your next meeting so we can share more?”

Once we get a YES, we share the following at the meeting:

Mission: GOTURSIX, in partnership with University of Missouri Extension, implements Missouri EATs across Wright, Webster, Douglas, Texas, and Laclede counties from August 2026 through June 2027 to build relationships and local understanding, validate regional food-system priorities, and inform community-led action to strengthen local food enterprise.

WHO: GOTURSIX, as Local Lead Partner, in partnership with MU Extension.

WHAT: Implement Missouri EATs based on specified work from the signed Agreement: establish the Local Leadership Team, conduct the appropriate community-engagement event, initiate follow-up, participate in the ongoing state activities, and report results.

WHERE: Wright, Webster, Douglas, Texas, and Laclede counties.

WHEN: August 2026–June 2027.

WHY: Build relationships and collect, document, and analyze on-the-ground food intelligence across the five-county region.

What We Will Do

Form the Local Leadership Team: DUE NOV 1, 2026
Conduct an appropriate engagement event: TBD by LLT
Initiate follow-up: TBD by LLT
Participate in the recurring activities: TBD by LLT
Submit the 1–2 page final report: DUE JUN 15, 2027

Data Collected
1. Contractually required data collection: none specified.
2. The Leader Guide recommends information to understand local context.

Outcomes

1. An established Local Leadership Team - 6-10 people: DUE NOV 1
   A local team exists and participates in guiding and supporting the Missouri EATs work.

2. A community-informed understanding of needs and opportunities
   Through the LLT, technical assistance, and planning process, the community identifies what support/resources are needed and what level of engagement makes sense.

3. A completed Missouri EATs community engagement event
   A lunch-and-learn, half-day forum, or one-day forum is planned and co-facilitated based on the community's readiness.

4. Community participation and input
   Relevant partners, stakeholders, and community members are brought into the process and have an opportunity to inform the work.

5. A path forward after the event
   Post-event follow-up is initiated through whatever combination of meetings, communications, additional events, timelines, or other activities makes sense based on what emerges.

6. Evidence of what happened and what was learned
   MU's evaluation/follow-up process captures participant feedback and data, which MU analyzes and shares back with the Local Lead Partner.

7. Documented impacts, lessons learned, and next steps
   A final 1–2 page report captures what resulted from the community's participation in Missouri EATs and identifies what comes next.

The Goal
Create a regional leadership team for the South Central Missouri Foodshed Project to map the food system assets of the Wright, Webster, Douglas, Texas, and Laclede.

Impact
This map will inform decision-making for the future Wright County Farm Stop, a place where local food producers turn what they grow, raise, make, and preserve into sustainable food enterprises while residents of the region gain increased choice to spend locally on food grown closer to home.

Implementing the Missouri EATs Framework: Timeline

August: Planning - SO CEN MO Chamber Circuit Meetings - find contacts for chamber meetings in each county and

September and October: SO CEN MO Chamber Circuit - apply Conversation Starter

November: Assemble the 6-10 SO CEN MO Local Leadership Team
Local Leadership Team Invitation

Dear ________,

GOTURSIX has been selected as the South Central Missouri Local Lead Partner for Missouri EATs, a University of Missouri Extension community food systems program. Our work will focus on Wright, Webster, Douglas, Texas, and Laclede counties through June 2027.

As part of this work, we are forming a Local Leadership Team of 6–10 people to help guide the Missouri EATs process in our region.

We already have substantial research, reports, assessments, and data that help us understand South Central Missouri on paper. During September and October, we're building relationships and local understanding to learn how the food system works on the ground—what is working, what resources already exist, where people encounter barriers, and who else needs to be part of the conversation.

We are inviting you because we believe your knowledge of and connection to this region would bring an important perspective to the Local Leadership Team.

As a member, you may be asked to help us:

• assess the local food system and contribute to the Missouri EATs Conversation Starter and Readiness Survey;

• identify people, organizations, resources, and perspectives that should be included;

• help plan a Missouri EATs community engagement event appropriate to our region's readiness;

• assist with outreach, communications, logistics, or documentation as needed; and

• help determine appropriate follow-up after the community engagement event.

Missouri EATs is designed to be community-led. The purpose of the Local Leadership Team is to help ensure that the people who know this region have a meaningful role in shaping the conversation and what comes next.

We would be grateful to have your perspective at the table.

Best,

Ronda Dorsey
Executive Director, GOTURSIX
South Central Missouri Local Lead Partner, Missouri EATs


Planning

First-stage": Drawing from the MO EATs Leader Guide’s Conversation Starter Tool and Readiness Survey, engage with Chambers located in all 5 counties; gather feedback; vet 6-10 local leaders (ideally 2 reps from each county) and use the Local Leadership Team Invitation Letter with interested parties; these parties will provide input about how they want to meet (such as lunch and learns,

Use feedback to

[In the spirit of the MO EATs framework’s Conversation Starter, but in a natural conversation rather than walking with a clipboard and a 16-question survey].

And every Chamber conversation should ideally end with one very practical asWe want to learn that from the people who know the community.

• What's already working well here when it comes to local food and agriculture?

• Who are the people we absolutely need to talk to?

• What businesses, organizations, programs, or resources should we know about?

• Where do you see people struggling—especially farmers, food producers, or small food businesses?

• What has been tried here before that we should know about?

• What are we not asking that we should be asking?

Closing question: Based on what we've talked about, who are the next two or three people you think we should sit down with?

The feedback we get from this work drives the decision-making for the next stage: identifying the 6-10 leader group [whatever this is called in the leader book]

Notice what we're not asking:

“Do you think we need a food hub?”
“Would your producers use the Farm Stop?”
“Do you think cold storage is a problem?”
“Do we need aggregation?”

Those questions would test our hypothesis. At this stage, we want people to share their story.

What we will do

GOTURSIX will implement the Missouri EATs community-development framework across our five-county region to better understand and strengthen the South Central Missouri foodshed.

Current state

GOTURSIX is accruing grant funding to build the Wright County Farm Stop

Current State

With the support of Missouri EATs and the regional intelligence we gain through this project, GOTURSIX will build the Wright County Farm Stop to reflect the needs and opportunities of our foodshed. With $15,500 in grant funding secured in July 2026 through Vital Farms and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, as well as additional public and private funding requests underway, GOTURSIX is investing in the “middle-food infrastructure” needed to develop the Wright County Farm Stop, a regional food-enterprise hub intended to serve approximately 140,000 residents across Wright, Webster, Texas, Laclede, and Douglas Counties.

Vision

Over time, the Farm Stop can grow into a regional food-enterprise hub, connecting producers to physical, online, and mobile markets and providing shared resources such as cold and dry storage, aggregation, commercial kitchen and canning capacity, and other infrastructure that helps local food enterprises grow.

Regional intelligence will inform the design, infrastructure, investments, partnerships, services, and operations of the Wright County Farm Stop, while creating a stronger network of producers, leaders, markets, resources, and relationships to support continued food-enterprise development across South Central Missouri.

A Wright County Farm Stop shaped by the South Central Missouri foodshed and built to help local food producers turn what they grow, raise, make, and preserve into sustainable food enterprises.

The Farm Stop can become a regional hub where producers gain access to shared infrastructure, new markets, enterprise support, and relationships that would be difficult to build alone, while keeping more of the economic value of local food within our region.

Missouri EATs provides the framework. GOTURSIX implements it locally. South Central Missouri provides the knowledge.

What we learn will inform the Wright County Farm Stop and GOTURSIX’s broader food-enterprise work.

Primary Outcome | January 2027

South Central Missouri Foodshed Resource + Asset Map

We will create a working regional map of the

• people

• producers

• organizations

• markets

• infrastructure

• programs

• expertise

• resources, and

• relationships

supporting our foodshed. The map will help us answer:

What already exists? → What can we better connect? → What remains missing?

Those findings will help GOTURSIX determine where the Wright County Farm Stop can add value without duplicating resources already available in the region.

September–October | PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

We will follow the Missouri EATs planning process:

Consult with Key Stakeholders → Grow the Team → Build the Team

We will begin with Chamber Days across all five counties and other informal stakeholder conversations.

Using the Conversation Starter + Readiness Survey, we will introduce Missouri EATs, identify interested stakeholders, learn who else should participate, and begin identifying regional assets and resources. 

Copy of MoEATs_Leader Guide (FINAL).pdf

As we listen, we will build the Foodshed Resource + Asset Map and identify potential members of the Local Leadership Team.

Outcome: Five counties engaged, stakeholders identified, asset mapping underway, and potential regional leaders identified.

November–January | ENGAGE + VALIDATE

We will establish a 6–10 person Local Leadership Team representing different perspectives, relationships, expertise, and lived experiences across the region. 

Copy of MoEATs_Leader Guide (FINAL).pdf

Together with the Missouri EATs team, we will determine the engagement format that best fits what we learned during the first phase.

We will bring the emerging regional picture back to stakeholders to:

• Add what we missed

• Validate what we learned

• Identify assets, challenges, and opportunities

• Strengthen regional connections

• Establish community priorities

Outcome: A community-informed South Central Missouri Foodshed Resource + Asset Map and validated priorities for action.

February–March | PLAN + APPLY

We will use the Missouri EATs action-planning process to move community priorities toward action.

We will identify next steps, partners, resources, responsibilities, and opportunities for collaboration.

GOTURSIX will also apply the regional findings to decisions about the Wright County Farm Stop, including infrastructure, services, partnerships, markets, and investment.

Outcome: A Food System Action Plan and clear connections between regional findings and Farm Stop decisions.

April–May | ACT + LEARN

We will support the actions, partnerships, connections, and learning opportunities that emerge from the community process.

GOTURSIX will continue applying and testing what we learned through development of the Wright County Farm Stop.

Outcome: Community priorities begin moving into action and regional learning informs local food-enterprise infrastructure.

June | EVALUATE + SHARE

We will document what we learned, what we mapped, what connections formed, what priorities emerged, what actions began, and what comes next.

We will complete required Missouri EATs reporting and identify how the work continues beyond the funded period.

We will also invite participants to see how their knowledge, relationships, and participation helped shape the Wright County Farm Stop.

Outcome: Final reporting, updated Resource + Asset Map, documented next steps, and regional celebration.

How We Will Measure Progress

• 5 of 5 counties engaged

• 6–10 Local Leadership Team members

• 1 South Central Missouri Foodshed Resource + Asset Map

• People, producers, and organizations engaged

• Regional assets and resources identified

• Connections made

• Community priorities validated

• Remaining gaps identified

• Food System Action Plan developed

• Farm Stop decisions informed by regional findings

• Missouri EATs tools implemented and evaluated

End State | June 2027

South Central Missouri will have a clearer picture of the people, resources, infrastructure, markets, relationships, challenges, and opportunities that make up our foodshed.

We will have stronger regional connections, community-informed priorities, and a path for continued action.

GOTURSIX will use that knowledge to help build the Wright County Farm Stop that fits our foodshed.