July 2016 – Rose Mayo, the NCGT apprentice with TRACTOR Food and Farms, has been learning all about what makes a food hub function successfully. She has a passion for supporting local farming, which stems from her family’s seed company and garden center, as well as a class she took focusing on sustainable agriculture and small scale business. With a recently earned degree in finance from the College of William and Mary, she’s found that her experiences with marketing and financial strategy have come in handy at TRACTOR.
Rose worked with TRACTOR manager Robin Smith and Yancey County Extension Director Tres Magner to create a better production planning template to project product availability, and to devise a marketing strategy for the food hub and an eventual CSA. She also analyzed TRACTOR’s budgets, looking for ways to increase profitability, and worked with social media and the TRACTOR website to amplify their internet presence.
Rose says “It’s been really interesting. I’ve enjoyed it and it’s been nice to know that my skill set can benefit TRACTOR…It’s been neat meeting growers and seeing the day to day operations.” She has been gratified to help support the local economies in Mitchell and Yancey counties, and she is excited that the work she is doing will be useful to TRACTOR even after her apprenticeship ends.
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 NC Growing Together Newsletter.