NCGT Monthly Project Update

In This Issue

NCGT Meeting Notes

NCGT Holds Second Annual All-Partner Meeting at Fort Bragg

NCGT and NC Choices Release NC Niche Meat Producers Survey Results

Project Partners: Internship/Apprenticeship Survey Now Online

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.

December 20, 2013

Greetings all,

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

Happy Holidays and we'll see you in 2014!

The NCGT Management Team

NC Growing Together Holds Second Annual All-Partner Meeting at Fort Bragg

On December 5, nearly 60 people attended NCGT's second annual all-partner meeting, which was held at NCGT partner Fort Bragg.

The meeting began with a delicious, nearly all-local lunch and included project updates from project staff and panel discussions among the retail and food service buyers involved in the project.

If you missed the meeting, you can view the Project Overview Presentation, or read our Year 1 Progress Report.

NCGT's next all-partner meeting will focus on research activities and be held in late April in Raleigh. Stay tuned for details!

NCGT and NC Choices Release North Carolina Niche Meat Producers Survey Results

To help answer questions about the growing niche meat industry in North Carolina, NCGT and NC Choices partnered to carry out a survey of all 500+ registered meat handlers in North Carolina.

Results of the report were presented at the third annual Carolina Meat Conference in Winston-Salem in early December. The full report can be accessed here.

For an interactive map of niche meat producers and processors in North Carolina, visit the NC Choices website.

Project Partners: Internship/Apprenticeship Survey Now Online
If you are an NCGT partner that is interested in hosting a project apprentice and/or intern, please fill out this online survey. Apprenticeship and internship experiences can help support partners' work and create opportunities for individuals to gain training and professional development related to local food systems and value chains work.

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 ~ ncgrowingtogether.org