NCGT Monthly Project Update

In This Issue:

NC Growing Together's Annual Meeting Convenes Entire Local Food Supply Chain

Partner Profile: Piedmont Grown

NCGT Sponsoring Postharvest Handling and GAPs Workshops, Local Food Webinar

Upcoming Events
CFSA's Organic Commodities & Livestock Conference A Training Event for Commercial-Scale Growers March 7 in Mount Olive, NC For more information, please visit the CFSA website.

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.

February 29, 2016

Greetings all,

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

Sincerely,

The NCGT Management Team

NC Growing Together's Annual Meeting Convenes Entire Local Food Supply Chain

On February 24, NC Growing Together hosted more than fifty farmers, fishermen, ranchers, food processors, wholesalers, retailers, and extension educators for its fourth annual meeting, held at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The group represented the entire local food supply chain.

Cliff Pilson of CV Pilson Farms talks with Chris Woodring, Senior VP of FreshPoint, Raleigh.

"Every year we've seen a doubling both in the number of local producers as well as mainstream businesses that attend," said NCGT Project and Research Coordinator Rebecca Dunning.

The main goals of the annual meeting are to report to the group on project activities in the past year, to draw on the group's collective wisdom and suggestions to guide project work in the coming year, and to give attendees the opportunity to network with others along the food supply chain.

Randy Lewis of Ran-Lew Dairy in Alamance County talks with Ryan Moore, Food Service Director, Aramark, UNC-CH.

"Hosting this meeting is another opportunity for Cooperative Extension at A&T to provide innovative leadership and collaboration on local foods, a priority issue for us as we serve our communities locally, statewide and beyond," said Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, interim dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at A&T.

Paul Lieb, co-CEO, Foster-Caviness, and Lauren Horning, Sales and Marketing Specialist, Foster-Caviness talk with growers and others.

For more information on NCGT's activities in 2015, you can view the presentation that Dunning gave at the meeting.

Partner Profile: Piedmont Grown

NCGT Partner Piedmont Grown is a certification program that identifies and promotes farm products that are grown, raised, and made in North Carolina's 37-county Piedmont Region. Their label identifies local agricultural products and helps consumers make informed buying choices that benefit local farms and our local economy.

NCGT is sponsoring Piedmont Grown's fifth annual conference, Increasing Farm Profitability through Efficiency, Diversified Markets, and Unique Branding, on March 10 at the Hunt Library on NC State's Centennial Campus. Keynote speaker Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm, will speak on "Using the Lean System to Earn a Comfortable Living on a Small Farm". The conference will also feature nine breakout sessions on everything from whole farm insurance to packaging and labeling issues; a delicious, locally-sourced lunch; and post-conference events in Raleigh.

March 10, 2016 | Piedmont Grown Conference | Raleigh NC

For more information and to register, please visit http://bit.ly/PiedmontGrown2016Conf

NCGT Sponsoring Postharvest Handling and GAPs Workshops, Local Food Webinar

NCGT will be sponsoring several educational workshops and events in March and April:

For more information, follow the links or visit the NCGT website's Event Details page.

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

Emily Edmonds, NCGT Extension and Outreach Program Manager, emelders@ncsu.edu, 828-399-0297

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