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Interested in organic gardening or pursuing a career in sustainable agriculture? The Western Piedmont Community College Sustainable Agriculture Program and Burke County Cooperative Extension will host a workshop entitled "Entrepreneur's Guide to Success in Sustainable Agriculture with Joel Salatin" Events will include a panel discussion, farm projects tour, exhibits by area organizations involved in sustainable agriculture and presentation by Joel Salatin.
Salatin is the owner/operator of Polyface Farms in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. A third generation alternative farmer, Salatin carries his message of environmentally sustainable farming practices to audiences nationwide. Salatin's farming methods have been profiled in the film, Food, Inc. and in the book The Omnivore's Dilemma by investigative journalist Michael Pollan. Salatin has written several books about farming including You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise.
This free workshop will be held on Monday, November 16 from 1-5pm at the Burke County Cooperative Extension office, 130 Ammons Drive, Morganton. Registration is from noon to 1pm., and space is limited, so be sure to arrive early. For more information about this event or if you or your organization would like to have a free exhibitor's table, please contact Chip Hope at chope@wpcc.edu, 828-448-3554 or Donna Teasley at donna_teasley@ncsu.edu, 828-439-4460.
Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) is making matching funds available to farmers through a program funded by the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. Farmers can apply for matching funds that will enable them to conduct promotions and develop materials that identify their products as local. ASAP will offr approximately $50,000 total to Southern Appalachian farmers to help them market and promote local foods.
Individual farmers can apply to receive up to $1500 of assistance. Farmers tailgate markets are eligible for up to $2000. As much as $5000 is available for groups of farmers.
Matching funds mean that ASAP will pay up to half of accepted applicants' costs for promotions and marketing materials. Current and former tobacco farmers can receive up to 75% of these marketing costs.
Funds can go towards advertisements in print, on the radio, or in other media; product labeling; graphic design; materials such as posters and business cards; signs; and more.
"Southern Appalachian farmers produce a wealth of high quality foods, and there's a growing demand for locally grown food. Shoppers and farmers just need help connecting," says Charlie Jackson, Executive Director of ASAP. "Matching funds will allow farmers to form these connections through marketing and strengthen our local food system." Good marketing helps authentically local food stand out and compete with other products. Furthermore, providing matching funds encourages local make marketing plans, which are much needed to succeed in the current economic climate.
To apply for funds, farmers must be Appalachian Grown certified. The promotion must reach the public and support farmers within one or more of these Appalachian Grown Counties in North Carolina: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey. If possible, approved applicants should incorporate the Appalachian Grown logo in the materials for which they receive funding. Appalachian Grown is a branding program that identifies products from family farms in the Southern Appalachians. ASAP developed the program to preserve the values associated with truly local food. Getting Appalachian Grown certified is a simple process and it's free.
For information about Appalachian Grown certification and the matching funds application, visit www.asapconnections.org or contact Megan Ray at megan@asapconnections.com.
Building a Sustainable Local Food Economy in North Carolina: From Farm-to-Fork
We are pleased to announce that over the next year, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) has been funded to reach out across the state and together with our partners ask: What will it take to build a sustainable local food economy in North Carolina?
From the mountains to the coast, various organizations are promoting and implementing exciting initiatives to support our state and communities through sustainable local agriculture. Examples include new farmer's markets, local food policy councils, comprehensive county- or region-based food initiatives, farm incubator programs, farm and/or garden youth educational programs, health and nutrition projects focused on local sustainable foods, procurement initiatives by large retail and institutional buyers and schools, and much more.
If each North Carolinian spent $0.25/day on local food (just 2.5% of the $3,600 that we spend on average on food consumption per year), it would mean $792 million for the state's economy. That money circulates here in the state so has a multiplier effect, rather than going to a corporate headquarters in another state.
Other benefits of a sustainable local food economy in NC include economic development, job creation within farming and food sectors, preservation of open space, decreased use of fossil fuel and associated carbon emissions, preservation and protection of the natural environment, increased consumer access to fresh and nutritious foods, and greater food security for all North Carolinians.
Over the next year, CEFS and its partners will be gathering information from across food system sectors: conducting regional meetings, targeted issues discussions, interviews, and hosting a statewide summit on March 2 and 3, 2009. Our desired result is a Statewide Action Plan for Building the Local Food Economy with specific steps (short- and long-term) that policy makers, Universities, government agencies, environmental organizations, businesses, funding agencies, social activists, NGO s and citizens can take to make this happen.
A regional meeting is to be held in:
Asheville, NC: November 12, 1:30-4:30 pm at the NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way.
The purpose of the regional meetings is to bring together those engaged in all aspects of the food system, to collect information and ideas that will the building blocks of discussion at the summitt and eventually the core components of the State Action Plan. We want to identify specific regional and local sustainable food systems model that are working and also regional challenges that can be addressed through policies, programs, and funding. These regional meetings will be facilitated listening sessions and provide important input into this process, so broad participation is encouraged.The State Action Plan will:
- describe key elements of our current food system and define key terms
- identify the diversity of people, businesses, and organizations involved in and impacted by NC's food system;
- highlight specific efforts and partnerships underway across our state and within different sectors of the food system to achieve greater "localness" in our food system; and
- identify opportunities for action, and propose priorities, both in the short- and long-term, that will enable us to make progress toward a shared goal.
Please share this information with others who may be interested in Farm to Fork.
CEFS website
