On June 22nd, 2020, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced a $90 million investment in research projects seeking to improve the sustainability of the nation’s food supply. The awards will support nine projects at eight institutions addressing issues including animal, human, plant, and environmental health. This research investment is the second installment of a [...]
Eighteen local education agencies (LEAs) were recently awarded Farm-to-School Rapid Response funding by the Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina. The funding is intended to support urgent needs and long-term capacity building for local food purchasing for school meals and local food educational programming in ways that increase the skills, knowledge, and connection to [...]
Tall Fescue is the most common cool-season forage in the eastern US, and much of it is infected with a toxic fungus that lives in the plant (called the “endophyte”). There are many solutions to the problem of toxic fescue, but none better than killing out old stands and planting an exciting new type of [...]
Americans are gravitating to the familiar and the comfortable, as we cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing is more comforting than making family recipes and memories using ingredients sourced from local farms, fisheries and food businesses. Aspiring and experienced cooks at home will find that North Carolina is a leader among states in cultivating [...]
Triangle area butchers and meat markets By WRAL.com Meatsuite.com: NC Choices, a program of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and NC Cooperative Extension, has launched MeatSuite.com. Through the MeatSuite.com website, consumers can find nearby local farms selling pasture-raised meat in bulk quantities. Read the full article here.
Currituck Extension offers information on the meat supply chain By Cameron Lowe, Currituck Extension You have likely seen much on the news and floating around social media in regards to potential meat shortages due to COVID-19. But what is the real story? While there have certainly been disruptions in the supply chain getting meat to [...]
The need for social distancing measures has drastically changed operations at the Small Farm Unit, and at CEFS Field Research, Education, and Outreach Facility at Cherry Research Farm. With more than 5,000 transplants in the greenhouse at the Small Farm Unit since February 2020, it became imperative to find solutions to maintain essential operations [...]
NC Farm to Early Care and Education, a Center for Environmental Farming Systems initiative, is proud to work with Sonflower Seeds Christian Pre-School and Learning Center LLC and other early childhood facilities to purchase local food and provide children with experiential learning around local food. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonflower Seeds, in Silk Hope, North [...]
First in Future: Food and Hunger Join us for part five of the series with guests Mike Darrow (Executive Director, Feeding the Carolinas) Tessa Thraves (Farm to School Coordinator, NC State University Center for Environmental Farming Systems) and Sarah Blacklin (Program Director for NC Choices, NC State University Center for Environmental Farming Systems) as we [...]
EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems (EMFS) is excited to announce that Gnome Mountain Farms is the second recipient of funding from 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 Carolina Farm Credit and EMFS, which [...]
