From Firsthand Foods Beginning May 1st, Durham-based Farmhand Foods officially changed its name to Firsthand Foods. A CEFS-incubated business, Farmhand Foods launched in 2010 with a food truck, known around town as the Sausage Wagon. Since then, the company has grown into a sizeable wholesale distributor of high-quality, local, pasture-raised meats. In late 2011, Farmhand [...]
The Small Farm Unit at CEFS' 2000-acre research facility in Goldsboro, NC is growing a new crop -- of apprentices! Here, we welcome the new apprentices to CEFS and let them introduce themselves. Mary Claire Curtis: I am a native Texan, but have lived mostly in central Pennsylvania. My affinity for nature began at an [...]
Kebreeya Lewis was a high school freshman when she first got involved with Students Working for an Agricultural Revolutionary Movement (SWARM), the youth food activism group supported by CEFS. The Goldsboro teen says things "got serious" when she started connecting her family's health problems - obesity, diabetes, and asthma - with [...]
On May 20-22, NC Choices held their first hands-on, intensive workshop specifically geared toward women in the local, niche meat industry. The Women Working in the Meat Business Retreat was developed out of the enthusiastic feedback received from last year's Carolina Meat Conference session recognizing the emerging role women play in the niche meat industry. NC Choices designed [...]
RALEIGH, May 31, 2013: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) has released a new guide entitled A Community and Local Government Guide to Developing Local Food Systems in North Carolina. The guide is intended to help communities and local governments realize the benefits of creating and supporting local food systems in their areas. In [...]
RALEIGH, May 31, 2013: Will Cramer is the successful farm manager behind Ever Laughter Farm just north of Hillsborough. He and his business partner Sam Hummel, along with friends and interns, cultivate nearly 40 different vegetable crops year-round on 4 acres, and sell at four weekly farmers’ markets. But when Cramer was starting out five years [...]
View the story on YouTube: CEFS 2013 Sustainable Agriculture Lecturer: MAYA WILEY
NC Choices is hosting a Women Working in the Meat Business Retreat May 20th – 22 in Chapel Hill, NC. The retreat, sponsored by the Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina, is in response to the emerging role of female professionals within meat businesses. “Women are increasingly playing a leadership role in the meat sector, whether it’s as livestock [...]
See (and hear) the story at WUNC 91.5: Exploring Gaps In America's Food System From The Farm To The Table By Nicole Campbell & Frank Stasio
CEFS is proud to announce several major grants that will support exciting new work over the next few years. Greenhouse Gas Research USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded CEFS $734,802 for an integrated research, education and extension project entitled Assessing The Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Potential Of Organic Systems In The Southeast. [...]
