On February 25-26, 2010, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) hosted six community teams for a two-day training workshop on building local food systems. With attendees representing Alexander, Burke, Catawba, Chatham, Cleveland, Gaston, Guilford, Jackson, Lee, Lenoir, Lincoln, Moore, Richmond and Swain counties, this CEFS training focused on participatory collaboration, expanding extension reach and education capacity across communities. The county-based teams took part in the first phase of a participatory training program, enabling community groups to develop their local food systems.
This initiative is a result of an overall set of state and local action ideas that CEFS and numerous statewide partners and community groups are working on as part of a Statewide Action Plan to build a sustainable local food economy.
The program aims to form broad collaboration of extension personnel across disciplines—including agriculture agents, 4-H agents, family and consumer agents, and marketing and business planning specialists—paired with community leaders, policy makers, business owners and local consumers. As a result of the workshop and as the community-based case projects progress, several tools and resources are being created, including Web-based training materials, webinars and hands-on community-led seminars. All materials will be available to the public via the CEFS Web site.
Funding for this initiative provided through the USDA, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program.