NCGT Monthly Project Update

In This Issue:

NCGT Partner Merchants Distributors Growing Relationships with Local Food Cooperatives and Aggregators

NCGT Partner Lowes Foods Seeking More Local Value-Added Products

NCGT MBA Student Supply Chain Research Team Focuses on Best Practices for Dairy Farms Transitioning to Value-Added Production

Upcoming Events

NCDA&CS Farmer Meeting with Harris Teeter, February 26

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is hosting a farmer meeting with Harris Teeter on February 26 in Brunswick County. North Carolina farmers interested in learning about the requirements for selling their products to Harris Teeter stores can take part in the information session.

The event is free, but registration is required by Monday, Feb. 15. For more information or to register, contact Tony Haywood, NCDA&CS retail marketing specialist at tony.haywood@ncagr.gov or 919-707-3140.

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.

January 29, 2016

Greetings all,

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading our monthly newsletter and please let us know what you think.

Sincerely,

The NCGT Management Team

NCGT Partner Merchants Distributors Growing Relationships with Local Food Cooperatives and Aggregators

TRACTOR making a produce delivery. Photo: Erin Lowe

Produce Distributor Merchants Distributors LLC (MDI), Lowes Foods' sister company, is buying more local produce from small and mid-scale producers through local food cooperatives and aggregators. "It's a win-win," says Tony Ciluffo, Produce Buyer for MDI. "MDI is committed to supporting local farmers and local communities. It's good business - customers want to know where their food is coming from, and the freight is cheaper so it reduces costs".

Last year, MDI started buying tomatoes from the Hispanic Women in Agriculture Cooperative in Vale, NC. "The quality was real good, and they're nice people to do business with," says Ciluffo. Working with MDI's former Produce Director Mike Burris, NC Growing Together helped connect the distributor and the cooperative at MDI's local food show last year. Burris, now charged with increasing MDI's purchasing of local produce, travels the state building relationships with extension agents and local producers.

MDI's Hickory warehouse.

MDI also works closely with TRACTOR Food and Farms, a non-profit food hub in Burnsville, NC. Last year MDI bought a variety of produce from the food hub including cabbage, cucumbers, collards, squash, tomatoes, and green peppers. Chuck Alexander, MDI's Director of Produce Operations, has been very impressed with their dedication to quality. "Their attention to detail exceeds any other local aggregator or farmer we deal with," says Alexander. TRACTOR staff made two trips to MDI's Hickory warehouse to train with their USDA inspector, Rebecca Parsons, and observe exactly how produce must be packaged in order to meet MDI's quality requirements. TRACTOR staff also works with MDI on production planning so that their farmers are planting a diversity of marketable crops.

Robin Smith, TRACTOR Director, said "MDI has gone out of their way to help TRACTOR and the small family farms TRACTOR serves. I truly value the relationship TRACTOR has with MDI, and I know our TRACTOR growers do too." TRACTOR also hosted a 2015 NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentice, Erin Lowe. Added Smith, "NC Growing Together has been a valuable resource in providing TRACTOR growers with key resources and establishing connections."

MDI's Alexander, who grew up on a farm, understands the challenges farmers face. "I understand everything they go through on a daily basis to deliver us the quality we want. I have a lot of respect for what they do."

Growers interested in selling into mainstream markets such as MDI can learn about postharvest handling best practices and meet Lowes Foods/MDI local purchasing staff at NCGT's upcoming Advanced Postharvest Handling to Enhance Shelf Life Workshops:

Henderson County, April 4

Durham County, April 6

Rowan County, April 7

For more information about the workshops please visit the NCGT website.

NCGT Partner Lowes Foods Seeking More Local Value-Added Products

Lowes Foods is bolstering its commitment to buying local by seeking local value-added products for its stores. Says Krista Morgan, Lowes Foods Locally Grown Accounts Representative and Liaison to NCGT, "we'd like to find canned or packaged goods such as sauces, jams, relish, dressings, etc. that are produced with all NC-grown ingredients, preferably by the farm itself so we can also feature their produce when in season."

In addition to being an NCGT partner, Lowes Foods is also a member of the NC 10% Campaign. Check out Lowes Foods' great video profile of local farmer Cliff Pilson of C.V. Pilson Farm. Cliff shows up regularly at NC 10% Campaign/NC Growing Together's Grower-Buyer Connection Events. Nice work Cliff!

If you are interested in selling local value-added products to Lowes Foods, please fill out this vendor application and send it to Krista Morgan at the address provided on the form.

NCGT MBA Student Supply Chain Research Team Focuses on Best Practices for Dairy Farms Transitioning to Value-Added Production

L-R: James Hollifield (NC State), Kaitlyn Sutton (NC State), Graham Givens (NCGT Supply Chain Scholar), Jazmine Davis (NC State), Cherith Autrey Austin (Austin Family Farm), and Andrew Austin (Austin Family Farm).

NC Growing Together and project partner Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at NC State University's Poole College of Management are sponsoring MBA students to investigate supply chain issues across the local-to-mainstream food supply chain.

Last fall, a team of four students - Jazmine Davis, James Hollifield, Kaitlyn Sutton, and 2016 NCGT Supply Chain Fellow Graham Givens - was tasked with two separate projects to assist farmers considering a transition into on-farm pasteurization. The first task was to create a financial tool to assist dairy farmers in organizing their current costs and projecting their costs and sales over the course of five years after their transition. In addition to this tool, the team also created an instructional video and written instructions to assist farmers in operating the tool.

The second task was using this tool and market research completed by the team to provide Asheville-area Austin Dairy Family Farm with the financial outlook of a transition to on-farm production of whole, non-homogenized milk. "We were determined to make a difference -- we had synergy going for us and passion for working with the family," said Sutton.

The team's poster won first place in the SCRC's Annual Meeting Poster Competition. Read the Executive Summary for Best Practices and Metrics for Dairy Farms Transitioning from Conventional Dairy Operations to On-Farm Value-Added Production here.

More information about the NCGT/SCRC MBA Teams can be found on the Research Page of NCGT's website.

Project Contact Information

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

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

Noah Ranells, NCGT Principal Investigator at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Cooperative Extension Program, nnranell@ncat.edu, 336-285-4658

Laura Lauffer, Project Coordinator, Local Farms and Food, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Cooperative Extension Program, ldlauffe@ncat.edu, 336-285-4690

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

Krista Morgan, Locally Grown Accounts Representative, Lowes Foods; and Lowes Foods Liaison, NC Growing Together, krista.morgan@lowesfoods.com, 336-775-3218 ext. 53218

Patricia Tripp, NCGT Produce Supply Chain Development Liaison, trish@artisanfoodsolutions.com, 336-458-6980

JJ Richardson, NCGT Website and Communications Coordinator, jj_richardson@ncsu.edu, 919-889-8219

This project is supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grant no. 2013-68004-20363 of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

� 2013-2016 NC Growing Together