Winter Greetings from CEFS! We are very happy to report that a number of our local foods initiatives are blossoming within the North Carolina Cooperative Extension organization. NC State University and NC Agricultural & Technical State University – our home bases – see the consumer demand for local foods and the engagement of so many stakeholders in the various aspects of (re)building our local food system.
In mid-December, CEFS Directors met with Cooperative Extension leadership from NC State University and NC A&T State University. We discussed the ways in which Extension has provided critical support and resources to CEFS’ local foods work.
Two CEFS programs stand out in this fruitful collaboration. One is the just-completed Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP) project,Training the Trainers in Community-Based Food Systems. This was a two-year project designed to offer training and resources to six county extension/local partner teams as they developed local food projects in their counties. In the second year, first-year county teams each partnered with another county to share their experience and expertise.
The project built networks and partnerships throughout the state and even across the nation. CEFS has compiled an online archive – including project profiles, lessons learned, and webinars – that synthesizes the experiences of these twelve counties. The project ended in December and the online archive is now an ongoing resource for NC Cooperative Extension and the general public.
The second project is Bringing New Farmers to the Table, funded by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. As part of the initiative, CEFS is coordinating an Incubator Farm Project that will work with county and municipal governments to transform vacant, publicly-held land into productive agriculture space, providing critical land access to new and beginning farmers in the process. Six sites across the state have been selected for support through the project.
We are excited to be incubating new farms and farmers, new ideas and possibilities within the world of sustainable agriculture and local foods. And we are grateful for the partnership with NC Cooperative Extension that makes so much of this work possible!
Dr. John O’Sullivan
CEFS Director, NCA&TSU
Dr. Nancy Creamer
CEFS Director, NCSU
From the February 2012 E-Newsletter