NCGT Monthly Project Update

In This Issue

NCGT Meeting Notes

NCGT and NC Choices: Connecting Producers to Resources, Products to Markets!

Building Local Foods Sales in Retail Settings: New Resources for Buyers and Retailers on the NCGT Website

Local Food Coming to Fort Bragg

Meeting Notes
Read the notes from our last Management Team meeting (opens as a .pdf).

About NCGT

GOAL | Bring more locally-grown foods - produce, meat, dairy, and seafood - into mainstream retail and food service supply chains, thus enhancing food security by increasing access to local foods and by strengthening the economics of small to mid-sized farm and fishing operations.

STRATEGY | Identify the most promising solutions by which local production and associated value-added activities can enter local retail and food service markets, pilot these solutions in North Carolina, and evaluate and report the results for the benefit of other states and regions.

October 31, 2013

Greetings all,

Thanks for reading our monthly project update and please let us know what you think!

Sincerely,

The NCGT Management Team

NC Growing Together and NC Choices: Connecting Producers to Resources, Products to Markets!

NC Growing Together and NC Choices are working together to support local and niche meat supply chains in North Carolina. The partners have co-produced several new guides, which are downloadable from the NCGT website.

For buyers/retailers:

Retailer Talking Points: How to Answer Consumer Questions on Local Meats

Bringing on New Local Niche Meat Producers - A Visual Guide and Checklist

For producers:

Niche Meat Production, Voluntary Labeling Claims, and the Approval Process

The partners have also worked with Lowes Foods to support sourcing of local niche meat products. Lowes Foods is piloting Cheshire Heritage Pork sales in two of its Raleigh-area stores, Clayton and Strickland Road.

Building Local Foods Sales in Retail Settings:

New Resources for Buyers and Retailers on the NCGT Website

Several new resources have recently been added to the NCGT website that offer advice for retailers seeking to build their local foods sales. The documents were produced by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers as part of the work of the NCGT Consumer Team and both provide research-based recommendations on building local foods sales in retail settings.

Authenticity and Success in Marketing "Local" - Review and Recommendations

Holding Successful Meet the Farmer Events - Assessment and Recommendations

Local Food Coming to Fort Bragg

Veggies in action The locally-sourced lunch that NC Growing Together and Fort Bragg are putting together for the NCGT all-partner meeting on December 5 is shaping up to be delicious!

Fort Bragg chefs are working with NCGT to create a menu that reflects the seasonal bounty of our state, and NCGT partner Foster-Caviness is working with local suppliers to source local meats, vegetables, and other products for the event.

Project Contact Information

Rebecca Dunning, NCGT Project and Research Coordinator, rebecca_dunning@ncsu.edu, 919-389-2220

Nancy Creamer, Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, NC State University; and Project Director, NC Growing Together, nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu, 919-515-9447

John O'Sullivan, Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, NC A&T State University; and Co-Principal Investigator, NC Growing Together, johno@ncat.edu , 336-285-4683

Michelle Schroeder-Moreno, NCGT Academic Coordinator, michelle_schroeder@ncsu.edu, 919-513-0085

Joanna Lelekacs, NCGT Extension and Training Coordinator, joanna_lelekacs@ncsu.edu, 919-244-5269

John Day, NCGT Military Partnership Coordinator, john_day@ncsu.edu, 704-785-6670

Ariel Fugate, Locally Grown Accounts Representative, Lowes Foods; and Lowes Foods Liaison, NC Growing Together, ariel.fugate@lowesfoods.com, 859-552-3467

JJ Richardson, NCGT Website and Communications Coordinator, jj_richardson@ncsu.edu, 919-527-9891

NC Growing Together is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant #2012-68004-20363.

� 2013 NC Growing Together