On a perfect fall day, several hundred people gather around Ray Archuleta and Steve Woodruff of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. They are intently watching a rainfall simulator demonstrate what happens when rain falls on agricultural soils that have been managed in different ways. Overhead sprinklers mimic a hard summer rain over sections of real soil pulled from fields that have been managed as permanent pasture, or using conservation tillage, conventional tillage, and no-till practices.

Steve Woodruff of USDA NRCS.

Dr. Joel Gruver demonstrating "revealing roots" at the Small Farm Unit.

The demonstration was part of CEFS' SOILbration, a day-long educational event held on October 17 as part of CEFS' 20th Anniversary celebrations. Approximately 300 people attended the SOILbration , which also offered cover crop and other demonstrations, tours of the farm's various units, exhibitors, posters, and a delicious, locally-sourced lunch. 

The event drew farmers, extension agents, students, food system advocates and activists, and members of the general public. Ciranna Bird, a medical writer from Raleigh who was visiting the farm for the first time, said "I had no idea how passionate people -- soil scientists, farmers, and conservationists -- felt about protecting soil. The enthusiasm and knowledge base of the speakers and attendees at the event was amazing!" Bird was drawn to the SOILbration because of her interest in pasture-based dairy systems. She said that having the opportunity to tour CEFS' Pasture-Based Dairy Unit was "irresistible."

Fred Kirschenmann.

Yum!

The 20th anniversary celebrations culminated that evening with a reunion dinner at NC State's Talley Student Center highlighting delicious, local and sustainable foods. A panel of speakers representing CEFS' past and future was moderated by Dr. John O'Sullivan, recently retired CEFS Co-Director from NC A&T. 

Alex Hitt of Peregrine Farm in Alamance County and long-time CEFS Board Member, said that he and his wife Betsy have had an "amazing ride" since CEFS "welcomed us into the group."

Danielle Treadwell giving her "CEFS Talk".

The dinner program then concluded with "CEFS Talks", featuring CEFS alumni describing how their CEFS experiences influenced them and how they're impacting the world now. There were many laughable moments and at times, teary eyes as well, as former interns, graduate students and staff shared how much CEFS has meant to them.

Thank you to all our sponsors, and to everyone who celebrated with us!  Click here to see photos from our 20th Anniversary Special Events. 

Clayton was recognized by several agricultural organizations for her leadership on agricultural issues and was known as a fighter for smaller farmers and rural communities.

Clayton retired from Congress in 2003 and accepted a three-year assignment with Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. As the Assistant Director General and Special Advisor to the Director General, she encouraged, facilitated and nurtured the establishment of 24 National Alliances (Partnerships) in various countries around the world to work together to reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Clayton remains active with agriculture, rural development, and food security. She recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times on Local Food for the Military.

A member of CEFS' Board of Advisors since 2010, Clayton says, "Serving on CEFS' Board affords me an opportunity to be engaged with and to be aware of small farmers' opportunities and challenges in North Carolina. It also allows me to interact with and learn from state leaders in agriculture, business, community and the universities who care deeply about small farmers and a financially strong, environmentally healthy agricultural sector in North Carolina."

 

The guide is viewed as a blueprint for statewide local food systems work, and many of its game changer ideas have been implemented.  In 2013, funded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, CEFS began working on the next phase of statewide assessment and action planning, the Community Food Strategies (CFS) initiative.

 

Community Food Strategies builds upon the original Farm to Fork, with an intentional focus on broadening its scope.  "In the original Farm to Fork initiative, 60% of participants were from the Triangle [region] and 25% were from higher education or government.  As a result, we weren't getting the whole picture," explains CFS Coordinator Christy Shi Day.  

Western regional meeting at the Local Food Council Gathering.

Before planning began, Shi Day spent months listening to ideas from various groups across the state.  From these conversations, she realized that the scale and focus of the initiative needed to be at the community level.  "We have to figure out what's happening at the local level [across the state] and where our communities are headed, and how that can be aggregated and communicated back to state-level actors who frequently have the resources, tools and connections that local groups need," she says.

 

Shi Day assembled a project team including colleagues from Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), Care Share, University of North Carolina, and various staff from the defunded Community Transformation Grant initiative. 

 

The project team decided to focus on Local Food Councils, groups that work on food system issues from information-sharing, to healthy food access, to policy change, in their own communities.  Councils were already forming in many parts of the state as an outcome of the Farm to Fork process.  

 

Networking at the Local Food Council Gathering.

"We viewed these groups as potential access points for engaging diverse groups of food system actors at the community level," she explains.  Building on existing momentum, the Community Food Strategies initiative spent its first year strengthening and building capacity of local food councils.

 

An important aspect of this network development is providing institutional support.  At the local level, institutional support can come from local government.  Partnering with the UNC School of Government, CFS has been raising awareness and building readiness for local governments to engage with food council development.

 

"Community-level collaboration to develop local food systems is central to local government purposes because it speaks to community-building as a social phenomenon as well as other aspects of quality of life such as health, economy, and environment. Since the School of Government exists to provide support to local governments in North Carolina, partnering with CEFS to provide education and outreach on this important topic seemed like a natural fit," says Rick Morse, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Government at UNC.
 

The work has also been supported by the Local Food Council of North Carolina (LFCNC), a statewide council comprised of organizations, agencies, and groups working from diverse approaches and for varying reasons on the common aim of strengthening North Carolina's local food systems.  As the state food council, the LFCNC has chosen to focus on interacting with local councils to strengthen community efforts and coordinate efforts between groups.

 

The opening session at the Local Food Council gathering, December 4.

 

Delegates from the fledgling local food council network were brought together for the first time December 4-5 in Winston-Salem, NC.  Over 120 delegates from more than 36 local groups and approximately 24 state organizations and agencies were convened by the LFCNC for their inaugural statewide conference.   The CFS team supported the LFCNC with design and implementation of the event.

 

Earline Middleton, Vice-President of Agency Services and Programs for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, chaired the event's planning committee.  "The planning committee created a space where best practices could be explored, new ideas generated, and the experience of wisdom used to build healthy, vibrant families and strong communities," she said.

 

At the conference, CFS team members Abbey Piner of CEFS and Katie Descieux of ASAP unveiled a toolkit for food councils.  A product of the CFS initiative, the "Collective Impact Toolkit" is designed to help local councils and networks bring together groups in their community and use the collective impact approach to planning.  
 

In 2015, the CFS initiative will continue to strengthen the network of networks both at the state and local levels. CFS team members will also provide training and technical assistance for councils and networks interested in collective impact.  "We are setting in motion a type of action planning at the local level that brings people together around the results they're trying to achieve" says Shi Day.

 

For more information about Community Food Strategies and Local Food Council work in North Carolina, contact Christy Shi Day or visit the NC Food Councils and Networks' Facebook page.

 

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