Charleston, WV

The West Virginia Farmers Market Association (WVFMA), in conjunction with the WV Community Development Hub, is seeking applicants for the position of Executive Director.  The Executive Director will support the West Virginia Farmers Market Association in its work to assist and promote successful development of farmers markets across West Virginia.  The Executive Director will work with the WVFMA Board, supervise the staff and contractors and collaborate with a wide variety of partners, funders and stakeholders in order to further these goals. For the full application information, click here. 
 

North Carolina State University

The Appalachian Foodshed Project (AFP) at North Carolina State University is seeking to hire one post-doctoral scholar with a strong interest in examining the challenges of food security from a systems level perspective, using a community participatory action research methodology. Specifically, the objectives of this post-doc position are to analyze community food security assessments (CFSA's) in counties of western NC (WNC) and publish results for both academic and community audiences. The post-doc scholar will also provide an important liaison of communication between community members, the North Carolina AFP team and a larger three state multidisciplinary AFP leadership team of students and faculty researchers at NC State University, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University. For the past 4 years, these groups have collaborated as part of the Appalachian Foodshed Project (www.appalcahianfoodshedproject.org), funded through the USDA's Agriculture, Food and Research Initiative (AFRI). The AFP aims to work creatively with community partners and university researchers to address community food security issues in West Virginia and the Appalachian regions of North Carolina, and Virginia. For the full application and information, click here. 

Interested food-business entrepreneurs have an opportunity to purchase Jeff's Breads, an established 20+ year artisan bakery/food manufacturer. Totally income producing package: Bakery, brand, 2 unit apartment building, equipment, acreage. Located in Renick/Lewisburg area. Contact: AlindaPerrine, 304-667-3334, Alinda.perrine@suddenlink.net Country Road Realty,LLC Elizabeth Wickline, Broker 

The primary goals of the CFPCGP are to: Meet the food needs of low-income individuals through food distribution, community outreach to assist in participation in Federally assisted nutrition programs, or improving access to food as part of a comprehensive service; Increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for the food needs of the communities; Promote comprehensive responses to local food access, farm, and nutrition issues; and Meet specific state, local or neighborhood food and agricultural needs including needs relating to: Equipment necessary for the efficient operation of a project; Planning for long-term solutions; or The creation of innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural producers and low-income consumers. More information here.

This program will explore and encourage best practices for connecting WV markets to the emergency food system that serves the food insecure in your community. Funding is provided through a grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. 

Through a competitive application process, 3 West Virginia farmers markets will be selected to participate in the Farmers Market Gleaning Project during the 2015 market season. Participating markets will receive up to $3,000 in funding to set up "gleaning programs" at their market, connecting farmers market products to entities like food pantries and soup kitchens, either through food sales, donations or other mechanisms. This money can be used for expenses directly related to the project, such as money for market manager time, marketing dollars for promotional events related to the project or mileage for transportation of gleaned produce.

Markets will be required to collect data on a weekly basis, reporting monthly to the project managers. At the conclusion of the 2015 season, the markets will report back to the project managers regarding the lessons learned through their pilot projects. In early 2016, a toolkit will be developed based on this project, which can be used by other markets interested in setting up gleaning project. 

For the application and full information, click here. 

Patagonia funds only environmental work. We are most interested in making grants to organizations that identify and work on the root causes of problems and that approach issues with a commitment to long-term change. Because we believe that the most direct path to real change is through building grassroots momentum, our funding focuses on organizations that create a strong base of citizen support. For eligibility and application information click here. 

This AFRI Challenge Area focuses on the priority to mitigate and adapt to climate variability and change. It supports activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration in agricultural and forest production systems, and prepare the nation's agriculture and forests to adapt to variable climates. The long-term outcome for this program is to reduce the use of energy, nitrogen fertilizer, and water by ten percent and increase carbon sequestration by fifteen percent through resilient agriculture and forest production systems. In order to achieve this outcome, this program will support multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects and Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants applications that address one of the Program Area Priorities. Application and information here.