The team found that purchasing 100% North Carolina tomatoes in season reduces the restaurant group's cost by nearly half, accomplishes the goal of sourcing exclusively local tomatoes, and will likely reduce on-farm food loss.
NC Growing Together has partnered with the NC 10% Campaign and Vittles Films to produce videos about local foods.
Whole Crop Harvest (WCH) is bringing together partners from across the supply chain to reduce on-farm produce loss and increase farmer profitability.
In collaboration with early educators, CEFS' Farm to Early Care and Education (NC Farm to ECE) Initiative created a series of eye-catching posters for young children that portray farmers and the vegetables they grow for their community - specifically highlighting women farmers and farmers of color.
Whole animal purchasing benefits farmers in that they don't have to spend time marketing their meat, and is especially beneficial for rural farmers who don't have ready access to markets outside of urban centers.
The goal of the Whole Crop Harvest initiative is to discover ways to recover and utilize produce that would otherwise not leave the field or packing shed.
This past year, UFOODS worked with UNC-P Executive Chef Glenn Reynolds and produce wholesale/distributor FreshPoint to increase local sourcing for campus dining. The result of this collaboration? UNC-P more than doubled their year-over-year percentage of local produce (defined as sourced within 250 miles) purchased through FreshPoint, from 3.35% to 8.9%.
The How it Works Handbook: A Guide to University Food Systems and Local Food Programs explains the structure of the university dining system, steps for successful programs, and various pathways through which locally-grown food can reach campus community members.
Two new resources from NC Growing Together: Hubs & Kitchens: Food Hubs, Commercial Community Kitchens, and Copackers in NC, and the Food Business Road Map.
In September, NCGT's Local Food Economies project and the NC 10% Campaign organized three Innovations in Economic Development through Local Foods gatherings to showcase investments that local and regional governments can make to support small and mid-scale food and farming businesses.
