NCGT Monthly Project Update

In This Issue

NCGT Partners Working to Increase Local Purchasing on NC Military Bases

NCGT Support Helps Small Farmers Achieve GAPs Certification

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.

July 14, 2014

Greetings all,

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

Sincerely,

The NCGT Management Team

NCGT Partners Working to Increase Local Foods Purchasing on NC Military Bases

NC Growing Together partners have been working on several different fronts to identify and increase local foods purchasing on NC military bases.

NCGT partner NCEast Alliance (NCEA) is a regional economic development corporation serving more than one million North Carolina residents from the edges of the Research Triangle to the Atlantic Coast.

In 2009, NCEA, in partnership with Marine Corps Installations EAST (MCIEAST), initiated an agribusiness development program known as "Food & Fuel 4 the Forces" (FF4F). FF4F seeks to leverage the Marine Corps' demand for food and renewable fuels in ways that benefit the rural economy of eastern NC.

Food & Fuel 4 the Forces Program Manager George Miller is on NCGT's Management Team. Says Miller, "The FF4F program has many complimentary goals to those of NCGT as they pertain to increasing the use of local food on North Carolina military bases. The years of experience working with the Marines brings institutional knowledge and network connections that benefit the work NCGT is doing with Fort Bragg."

NCGT is partnering with Fort Bragg to create entry points for local food within the military procurement system that serves the Fayetteville military installation.

On June 10, NCEA and the NC Military Business Center hosted a "Food 4 the Forces" event in New Bern. The day-long event was a statewide business development opportunity that connected NC growers and food producers with senior military officials, and educated NC producers on Department of Defense (DoD) food acquisition processes.

Presenters included NCGT's Wholesaler Liaison Trish Tripp (who talked about "Pathways to Partnership: Developing a Farmer Network Near Base") and Lowes Foods Liaison Ariel Fugate (who talked about "Local in 'Mainstream' Retail"). G.W. Stanley of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) and Steve Johnson of Foster-Caviness also spoke at the event. NCDA&CS has been working for many years to support local sourcing on NC military bases.

At the event, Colonel Robert E. King, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support Subsistence Director, announced that DLA will begin to include information on "place of origin" for food purchasing through their STORES ordering system. The DLA, an agency of the Department of Defense, provides worldwide logistics support including food procurement for U.S. military services.

The designation means that, for the first time, it will be possible to identify local produce for those making purchasing decisions in the military food procurement process. The designation will hopefully allow local food purchasing on military bases to be tracked and increased over time. Said Col. King, "The update to the STORES system is proceeding and we are expecting to have access to the information after the first of the year."

NC Growing Together Support Helps Small Farmers Achieve GAPs Certification

Vince Evans of Evans Family Farm.

NC Growing Together, in partnership with NC State University, NC Cooperative Extension, and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), is providing intensive, hands-on technical support to enable small-scale farmers to achieve Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) certification of their farms.

The USDA-developed GAPs certification system focuses on best practices to minimize microbial contamination risks in the produce supply chain. Although not mandatory for all growers, it has become the industry standard to sell into many larger markets, including most food distributors and retail stores. However, GAPs certification poses a challenge to many small farmers who are daunted by its paperwork requirements and costs.

The full day, two-part workshops include classroom and on-farm instruction on how to minimize on-farm produce contamination risks, as well as direct assistance in completing the food safety plan required for GAPs certification.

Patricia Tripp, who wears two hats as NCGT's Wholesaler Liaison and CFSA's Produce Safety Coordinator, conducts the trainings. "It is gratifying to be able to provide the growers with hands-on support, walking them through every step of the process [of GAPs certification]," she says. There are also cost-share funds available through CFSA to help cover the costs of the certification.

Two farmers who recently achieved GAPs certification with NCGT support are Vince Evans and Ed Spence, both of whom farm in the Fayetteville area. With Ms. Tripp's assistance, both farms passed their GAPs audits and are now ready to begin selling their produce to NCGT partner distributor Foster-Caviness, a contract vendor for NCGT partner Fort Bragg.

"I just don't think I would have followed through had it not been for Patricia," said Mr. Evans. "Showing you what the value would be, then taking the time and explaining how the process works" made all the difference for his farm. "We're getting crops ready now to push to open other markets", he says.

The next GAPs certification workshop series will be in Hoke County and begins July 30. For more information on future workshops and available resources, including cost-share opportunities, please visit CFSA's website or contact Patricia Tripp at patriciatripp1@gmail.com.

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

Patricia Tripp, NCGT Wholesaler Liaison, patricia.tripp1@gmail.com, 336-458-6980.

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.

� 2013-2014 NC Growing Together