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Upcoming Workshops
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Season Extension with High Tunnels
March 27, 2017
| Concord, NC
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Info
March 28, 2017 | Greensboro, NC |
Info
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
(co-sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association)
March 10, 2017 | Charlotte, NC |
Info
March 16, 2017 | Greenville, NC |
Info
March 21, 2017 | Durham , NC |
Info
May 16, 2017 | Henderson, NC |
Info
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| About NCGT |
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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.
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Greetings all,
Thanks for reading our monthly newsletter and please let us know what you think.
Sincerely,
The NCGT Management Team
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North Carolina's Community Colleges Fill Important Need: Business Training for Farmers
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Tiffany Henry with Appalachian Business of Farming students.
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North Carolina's community colleges are stepping in to fill a critical need in rural communities across the state: training farmers on the business of farming. Tiffany Henry, Director of the
Small Business Center at Southwestern Community College
in Sylva, says, "when we connect with farmers, it opens them up to a whole other realm of resources." There are 58 Small Business Centers based at Community Colleges throughout North Carolina, whose mission is to support the development of new businesses and the growth of existing businesses by providing training, counseling, and resource information.
Southwestern Community College's Appalachian Business of Farming program is now in its third year and focuses on teaching the business aspects of running a successful farm operation. The idea came from a conversation with Rob Hawk, the NC Cooperative Extension County Director for Jackson and Swain Counties. In discussing gaps in training opportunities for farmers, Hawk and Henry realized that Small Business Centers could fill a critical need for business training that complements the training and expertise offered by the statewide network of NC Cooperative Extension agents and specialists.
The program meets three hours weekly for eight weeks and typically has about 20 participants representing new as well as experienced farmers. "Our first year we had 95 years of experience in farming between the participants," Henry says. The one thing they all had in common? A desire to become more profitable. Classes focus on practical considerations that can make the difference between a farm failing and succeeding: finances and bookkeeping, cash flow, marketing, and
connecting participants to local, regional, and statewide resources
. By the end of the program, each participant creates a business plan.
NC Growing Together is supporting these programs by providing access to resources and expertise. In February, NC Growing Together's Rebecca Dunning and Laura Lauffer traveled to both Southwestern Community College and Sampson Community College in Clinton, which this year is offering a similar program for local farmers.
"Our role in visiting the classes was to share what NC Growing Together has learned about working with grocers and wholesalers, and to connect folks at the community colleges to project resources," says NCGT Project Manager Rebecca Dunning.
"Just as importantly, our trips to the classes have helped us understand what practical information the Small Business Center counselors across the state need so that they can provide support to clients interested in creating food and farming businesses," explains Dunning.
NCGT is currently developing an agribusiness resource directory for small business counselors at both community colleges and universities.
The resource directory will provide information to connect SBC counselors with resources on farm insurance, farm lending, cost-share programs, and more.
SBCs also offer individual counseling and can do one-session seminars on particular topics (for example, marketing or access to capital) for farmers.
 Amanda Bradshaw is the Director of the Small Business Center at Sampson Community College. Inspired by the success of Southwestern Community College's program, she brought the curriculum to Sampson County this year. "Folks come in to the Small Business Center and say, 'I planted four acres of pecan trees and I don't have a market', or people inherit land and want to do something, but they're not sure exactly what," she says. She knew that the SBC, in collaboration with the land grant universities and county extension personnel, could step in and provide education and resources.
According to Bradshaw, all of her program attendees' work full time or are getting ready to retire and are looking to make supplemental income or change their lifestyle. "We want to make sure these folks have the information they need to make good business decisions for their farm," she says.
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NCGT Supports Planning Focus on Agriculture & Food Systems in Partnership with the NC Chapter of the American Planning Association
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NCGT presented at the February APA-NC meeting in Saxapahaw, NC.
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"Building these kinds of partnerships really helps connect the great resources available through NC Cooperative Extension and the local food specialists at CEFS to local governments across the state. APA-NC's leadership on this issue helps us reach towns, counties, and cities that are interested in building stronger agricultural economic development programs and supporting farms and food businesses in their regions," said Emily Edmonds,
NCGT Extension and Outreach Program Manager.
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The North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association is thrilled to introduce planners from across the state to NC Growing Together. Building and supporting a vibrant local food system takes efforts from planners, local officials, community advocates, producers and end users," said Hanna Cockburn, Long Range and Strategic Planning Manager for the City of Greensboro.
This spring, APA-NC is following up on its national launch with regional meetings across the state designed to provide in-depth professional training for planners on food systems development. The first event was held in conjunction with
Healthy Alamance
in Saxapahaw on February 16 and featured NCGT Extension and Outreach Program Manager Emily Edmonds; Erin White of
Community Food Lab
speaking about the Sandhills AgInnovation Center; Russ Clegg of the City of Greensboro speaking about the Fresh Food Access Plan Project; and Mike Ortosky of Orange County speaking about their
Agricultural Economic Development Program.
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These meetings provide a great launching pad for attendees to take the ideas they hear from the speakers and apply these concepts in their own communities," said Cockburn.
Western and eastern regional gatherings are being planned for spring 2017.
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| NCGT Supports Local Foods at Camp Lejeune and Surrounding Community |
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| Participants of the Season Extension workshop held February 8th at the Onslow County Incubator Farm. |
Last April, NC Growing Together reported on Farm-to-Base and Base-to-Farm Efforts at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. NCGT matched funds with Onslow County Cooperative Extension and the Onslow County Farmers Market Association to hire a full time Farmers Market and Incubator Farm Manager, Marie Bowman. This year, Marie and the incubator farm are getting a head start on the season. The farm hosted the first NCGT Season Extension workshop of 2017 -- which also served as the kick-off for the newly revitalized incubator farm's first full season -- on February 8th.
This year's farmer co-hort is ready: 16 people have signed up, including 4 active duty military personnel and 2 recently-retired military personnel. Many signed up as couples with their spouses. Participants will attend weekly classes and work together on tending crops in a large common plot as well as in high tunnels. NC Cooperative Extension agents and specialists will provide much of the production expertise, and the farm will take advantage of business resources available at Sampson Community College's Small Business Center.
"We're starting with the basics," says Bowman, "Soil science, soil testing, and soil fertility. We're trying to give participants a whole-farm concept - thinking about your market first before planting and focusing on profitability."
In the second year, participants will transition to their own individual plots as well as learn about more advanced farming topics including organic production and Good Agricultural Practices. "Taking a communal approach in the first year takes the pressure off individual participants and allows everyone to work through a growing season together and really focus on learning," explains Bowman.
Tim McCurry, Community Plans and Liaison Officer for Camp Lejeune, is trying to line up opportunities for the incubator farm's produce to be consumed on-base. McCurry is working with base personnel and Barry Lee, district manager for Sodexo, the base's food service provider, to have the farm's produce featured in one of the base's semi-annual "Chef Competitions".
"While the overarching goal is sustainability, there is a community appeal of bringing produce grown by current and former service members on-base to be prepared by and served to current service members in the Chef Competition," says McCurry. "We support local agriculture as part of the military base's efforts against encroachment, and we always try to promote sustainability - it makes good business sense," adds Lee.
In addition to supporting the Farmers Market and Incubator Farm Manager position, NCGT funded a Summer 2016 Local Food Supply Chain Apprentice,
Taylor Halso, to support the incubator farm and farmers market efforts, and will do the same in Summer 2017.
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Project Contact Information
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
Emily Edmonds, NCGT Extension and Outreach Program Manager, emelders@ncsu.edu, 828-399-0297
Laura Lauffer
, Project Coordinator, Local Farms and Food, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Cooperative Extension Program,
ldlauffe@ncat.edu
, 336-285-4690
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.
© 2013-2017 NC Growing Together
www.ncgrowingtogether.org
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