I am Lisa, your Local Foods Extension Agent and part of the EMFS team. We at EMFS hope you are doing well, staying safe and finding peace during this difficult time. We also wanted to let you know that as of right now we are continuing to maintain operations and provide support for our clients.

However, due to the current situation, we are implementing some adaptive strategies to meet the needs of the food and farm businesses we serve. We are no longer holding in person meetings and will conduct all business via phone calls or online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom.

All our services are currently available remotely including:

• Please start by completing our Business Services Intake Form. (I will be coordinating and guiding you through all other steps below to connect you with our partners)
• After you complete the intake form I will schedule an initial phone call to discuss EMFS program services, your food or farm business goals, the various EMFS programs that meet your needs and to start the process of connecting you to our services.
• After our initial follow up call, the next step in the process will be to virtually meet with your local Small Business Center Director. Our partners at the Small Business Centers are continuing to meet with clients remotely. They will work with you to develop your business plan, determine a business budget and suggest strategies to help make sure you are on track with your business planning. They can also share information about support from federal and state sources for
  small businesses facing hardship from the coronavirus pandemic, and can help prepare loan package applications for those programs.
• We are also continuing to provide advanced business consulting services. Our team at TenBiz is available to provide further business coaching as well as connect you with services such as
  graphic design for logo development, website development, accounting services, human resource management tools, marketing strategies and legal services.
• Our financial services such as our small grant program and our loan support program are available, and we hope can assist your business during this difficult time. Each grant or loan
  match amount is still determined on a case by case basis and awards are determined by our review team. We are still requiring as a preparatory step that you first meet with your Small
  Business Center director and that you have completed an enterprise budget for your business.
• We are still providing referrals to advanced consulting for value-added businesses through our partners at Blue Ridge Food Ventures.
• We are still providing referrals to farm lease opportunities, landowner resources, and farmer resources through our partners at NC Farmlink.

Though we are not hosting any in-person workshops or training events in the near future we do hope to roll out a series of webinars so that we can stay connected and continue to provide educational opportunities that can help your business grow and thrive. Please feel free to reach out to me with any of your ideas for educational programs that could meet your needs.

We will do our best to continue to meet your needs through this stressful time. However, we do ask for your patience as many of our staff members may be working reduced hours in order to care for their families and loved ones. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to me at lcgonzal@ncsu.edu or Laura Lauffer at lwlauffe@ncsu.edu.

We wish that the weeks ahead are safe and healthy for you and your family.
– Lisa Gonzalez, NCSU Extension Area Specialized Agent – Local Foods

The Mountaineer is helping us get the word out about our free “How to Make More Money on the Farm” seminar.

Check out the article here: https://www.themountaineer.com/news/business/learn-how-to-increase-farm-income-at-winter-seminar/article_65d2c218-2360-11ea-b578-27668323973c.html

Event Information and Registration

The How to Make More Money on the Farm event is being held in three different counties to help as many food related businesses as possible.

Haywood County >

Jackson/Swain County >

Cherokee County >

EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems (EMFS) is excited to announce that Waynesville Soda Jerks is the first recipient of the EMFS grant and loan program! The program is designed to “buy down” the cost of purchasing equipment or infrastructure for farm and food businesses, and is a partnership between Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIFund) and EMFS, which is funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission, NC Cooperative Extension, and Cherokee Preservation Foundation. The EMFS funding provides a grant match to loan funding through NCIFund, a community lender providing loans and assistance to small businesses and farms that are unable to access financing from traditional sources. 

Waynesville Soda Jerks is an independent, locally-owned soda company based in Haywood County, North Carolina, that works closely with regional farmers and producers to source local farm products for their sodas. The company, owned by Megan Brown and Chris Allen, plans to put the funding towards an expansion phase to scale up the business, purchasing equipment to increase production in both their wholesale and retail markets. 

“We both grew up in Haywood County in Canton, both went to Pisgah High School, where we met, and after we both moved away for college and travel, we were able to reconnect when we both moved home,” Megan said. “We had dreams of getting out of the grind of working for others and running our own business, and we started out really small at the local farmers’ market for a few years before we were able to move into bottling in our third year.”

Being connected to the farmers’ market allowed the team to build relationships with area producers, including KT’s Orchard and Apiary in Haywood County, JW Mitchell Farm in Macon County, and Deal Family Farms in Macon County. They source as much of their fruit, herbs, and ingredients locally as possible, purchasing everything from peaches and strawberries to honey and grapes from between 10-12 area farmers each year. The expansion funding will allow them to increase their purchases with local producers and, in some cases, even begin planning specific seasonal orders with their primary farm partners. 

The team also works with an array of small wholesale distributors in the region and hopes to increase their products in these locations as well as diversifying into larger wholesale markets across the state, such as grocery stores. 

“We are super appreciative to have started in Waynesville and continue to grow here. The culture here is really supportive of small businesses and especially food businesses, and it really ties in to the history we have with the agricultural economy and we can fit into that market of small farms and farmers in a unique way,” Chris said. “Being from Haywood, it used to be hard being young here and seeing a lot of potential to sustain yourself. That’s changed a lot just in our lifetime, and there are a lot of opportunities for small business entrepreneurship that weren’t here when we were growing up.” The couple plans to continue supporting others, especially farmers, as they grow. 

If you are a small farm or food business interested in a similar grant and loan program, learn more about the program here and apply to see if you are eligible: 

EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Program.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/WaynesvilleSodaJerks

Website: www.waynesvillesodajerks.com

Instagram: @waynesvillesodajerks

The local paper that covers Macon county did a wonderful article on how EMFS is helping local farms and food businesses.

Check it out here: https://www.themountaineer.com/news/grant-program-seeks-to-grow-farm-incomes/article_abada3a2-226b-11ea-9ae9-777687c056e7.html

What’s the Program For?

This grant/loan program is designed to “buy down” the cost of purchasing equipment or infrastructure for farm and food businesses. Eligible uses can range from cold storage and value-added processing equipment to planting and harvesting equipment.

Who’s Eligible?

North Carolina businesses who:

• Farm in, produce in, or purchase from producers in the seven western counties of NC (Haywood, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, or Clay) or on the Qualla Boundary.
• Currently sell or process vegetables, fruit, meat or other agricultural products or run other food-related businesses.
• Have a business plan in place for their business.
• Attend at least one counseling session with their local Small Business Center prior to financing.

How Does the Financing Work?

The program is eligible for equipment/infrastructure purchases of $15,000 or more.

EMFS will be providing additional grant and loan programs with Mountain BizWorks, Thread Capital, and Sequoyah Fund in early 2020. Fill out this interest form to see if you are eligible: http://bit.ly/foodfarmloans.

Read more about the program and get all the details here.

Watch Lisa Gonzalez, EMFS Regional Local Foods Agent for the EBCI Cooperative Extension Center, talk about the Haywood County Ag Summit and the importance of agricultural businesses in the regional economy!

Watch on WLOS

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Agribusiness is already doing big business in Western North Carolina. But a summit Thursday focused on how to make agribusiness even bigger. Several strategies were discussed, including marketing, diversifying, even engaging high school students.

Read more here…

EmPOWERIng Mountain Food Systems and EBCI NC Cooperative Extension hosted Tes Thraves, the NC Farm to School Program Coordinator, to discuss local food purchasing for K-12 schools in the region. EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems seeks to increase farmer income through education, business support and infrastructure development, and supporting institutional purchasing in schools helps to address both economic and health concerns in the region.

The national F2S week promotion this year focused on “CRUNCH” photos with local apples. For more about the farm to school program, visit https://cefs.ncsu.edu/youth/farm-to-school/.

In the photo, from left, Joey Owle, EBCI Secretary of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Tes Thraves, Center for Environmental Farming Systems Farm to School Program Coordinator, Lisa Gonzalez, Regional Local Food Extension Agent, EmPOWERing Local Food Systems, Tenisha McLean, Food Corps, Cherokee Central Schools,Jessica Mrugala, Cherokee Choices, Alison Francis,  Haywood County Schools Nutrition Director, and Robin Bailey-Callahan, Cherokee Choices.

The Empowering Mountain Food Systems (EMFS) program has launched in our region! We are part of NC Cooperative Extension and receive additional funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. Our goal is to offer financial, technical and business support to regional farms and food businesses. We are working with numerous regional partners including the Southwest Commision, Tri County Community College, Southwestern Community College and Haywood Community College, Western Carolina University, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), NC Biotech Center, Center for Agriculture and Food Entrepreneurship, tenBiz, regional tourism authorities and many more.

Farming has a deep history in the region. There are historic farms that have been in production for generations and farmers who are new to the region. This project seeks to assist these farms as well as food businesses, for example businesses focused on products such as jams, jerky and  granola, or service providers such as processors, distillers and distributors.

The recently released 2017 USDA Agriculture Census report shows promising news for farming in the region.The census showed 802 beginning farmers and increases in almost all categories since the 2012 report:  a 23% increase in direct to consumer sales, a 13% increase in livestock operations, a 15% increase in production of vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes operations and a 32% increase in production of fruits, tree nuts, and berry operations. The census shows a marked 52% decrease in agritourism operations. EMFS is working to address agritourism opportunities in the region supplying training and financial support to increase this regional market potential.

To continue supporting this economic growth in agriculture, EMFS hosts a dedicated regional extension agent, Lisa Gonzalez, in the EBCI Cooperative Extension Center. Lisa specializes in local foods and will work with each county extension office, farmer’s markets and food business to bring her ten years of experience with Cooperative Extension and her farming background to our region. Lisa and other team members will connect farmers and food businesses to equipment grants and loans, training and coaching programs, resources to increase agritourism, and strategic growth and marketing opportunities.

Existing farmers who are ready to scale up from direct marketing to diversified operations, for instance, expanding to wholesale markets or adding a value added product line are key targets for EMFS support. Additionally, we seek farmers and food businesses for whom strategic financial management improvements, investments in machinery and processing equipment or even adding a farm apprentice to ramp up production would have a significant economic impact. We are fortunate to bring on local farmer and educator Christina Newhouse from Murphy, NC to manage the apprenticeship program. Christina has deep connections to the industry, region-wide and is currently seeking mentors for host sites. The apprenticeships are available year-round and apprentices are paid NC State employees. View the application here.

EMFS is ready to work with farmers and other food businesses to determine their needs and provide services and investment to help them get to the next level of growth and income.

EMFS will be holding a series of Making More Money on the Farm events this winter, as well as sharing a regional food system assessment, hosting webinars, and providing educational materials and lectures at area schools. Look for Lisa, Christina, and Laura Lauffer, the Project Director, around the region, or check in with Chumper Walker at the EBCI Cooperative Extension center, to learn more. We are excited to work with you and look forward to meeting you soon!

You can learn more about all the EMFS resources, events, and services at www.empoweringmtnfoodsystems.org. If you’re a business interested in services, please check out our Business Development Resources page at https://cefs.ncsu.edu/food-system-initiatives/emfs-empowering-mountain-food-systems/emfs-food-farm-business-development-assistance/.