September 2015 — NC Growing Together partner Merchants Distributors Inc. – sister company to Lowes Foods – held its seasonal food show on August 18-19, 2015, with a special focus on local produce. Based in Hickory, NC, MDI is a grocery wholesale distributor that serves over 600 retail food stores in 11 states. The purpose of its food show – held in January, April, and August of each year – is to showcase the thousands of food items available for purchase by attending retail store owners, operators, managers, department heads, and merchandisers.
Mike Burris, who spent 27 years as MDI”s Director of Produce, invited NCGT representatives, local growers, and extension agents to attend the show. “The goal was to introduce them to MDI and how we do business with our customers,” he says. Now charged with increasing the amount of locally-grown produce distributed by MDI, Burris travels the state building relationships with extension agents and local producers. He”s been to 52 of the state”s 100 counties and plans to visit the remaining counties in the next 6 months.
Danelle Cutting, an NC A&T Horticulture and Local Food Agent in Rowan County, was one of the best online casino extension agents who attended the show. 
Cutting and 7 other agents from neighboring counties hosted their own booth – complete with products from their local producers – to “showcase our area,” she explains. “We made some really good contacts,” says Cutting. Now, the same group of 7 agents, who frequently work together to promote local foods in their region, is planning to bring a group of about 25 of their producers to tour MDI”s warehouse in late October.
For more information on MDI”s local produce initiative, contact Mike Burris: mburris@merchantsdistributors.com.
This article originally appeared in the September 2015 NC Growing Together Newsletter.