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NCGT Monthly Project Update
In This Issue
NCGT Meeting Notes
Sign up for NCGT Event in April and May
Food Hubs Tour US Foods
"Local" and "Regional" Find Common Ground
Partner Profile: Feast Down East Hosts First RAISE THE BARN
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.
  
March 31, 2013

Greetings all,  

 

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

Sincerely,

 

The NCGT Management Team

Sign up for NCGT Events in April and May

April 22: NCGT Research and Extension Symposium, NCSU Arboretum, Raleigh, NC, 2:00 - 5:00 pm.
  

May 6: NC Food Hub Information Exchange, Forsyth Cooperative Extension Center, Winston-Salem, NC, 9:30 - 1:30 pm. 
Food Hubs Tour US Foods
 
NCGT collaborator US Foods opened their Zebulon facility to a tour of 50+ people attending the National Good Food Network's Food Hub Conference in Raleigh March 26-March 28. The Conference was a sold-out event with 400 food hub managers, staff, support businesses, researchers, and technical assistance providers. Attendees spent an hour in small guided tours of the 415,000 sq. ft. warehouse, and engaged in plenty of Q&A during the tour and in a discussion session afterwards.
 "Local" and "Regional" Find Common Ground
NCGT partner Firsthand Foods, a Durham meat food hub,  recently established a business relationship with another NCGT partner, Foster-Caviness, a regional produce distributor with hub warehouse operations in Greensboro and Charlotte. Several times a week Foster-Caviness' refrigerated trucks backhaul product from the Durham hub to Firsthand Customers.
 
The partnership is a perfect example of a "local-scale" business drawing on the logistics wherewithal of a "regional-scale" company. "We are excited about the opportunity to get our farmers' pasture-raised meats to local markets throughout the state and appreciate the team at Foster - Caviness and their willingness to adapt to our small company's needs," says Jennifer Curtis, Co-CEO of Firsthand.
Partner Profile: Feast Down East Hosts First RAISE THE BARN

NC Growing Together partner Feast Down East, also known as the Southeastern North Carolina Food Systems Program (SENCFS), is a non-profit, poverty alleviation, grassroots organization working towards "Bringing Farmers to Market." Feast Down East helps farmers (and fishermen-our "farmers of the sea") build and sustain their farm businesses, connects local farmers to local food businesses and educates consumers on the importance of buying local foods. Its mission is to provide access to fresh healthy and affordable food, expand farm employment, profit and ownership, reduce poverty and keep food dollars right here in Southeastern North Carolina.

 

Feast Down East recently had its first Farm Dinner & Benefit called RAISE THE BARN on March 22nd. It was a magical evening full of gourmet local farm food prepared by Wilmington's premier chefs, local libations, dancing, silent auction, photo booth and general fun!! The picturesque grounds of Poplar Grove Plantation lent itself to a star-filled sky and good down-home enjoyment. In partnership with Poplar Grove Plantation, UNCW and Farm Bureau of Pender and New Hanover Counties, Feast Down East was able to generate over $25,000.00 to be used towards programming and the purchase of a long-desired refrigerated truck of their own to support the work of the    FDE Processing and Distribution, USDA Designated, Food Hub in Burgaw, North Carolina. Photos are shared here on Facebook.

 
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.

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