MBA student teams from NC State University's Poole College of Management Supply Chain Resource Cooperative have worked with NCGT staff and partner entities since summer 2013 to investigate and address food business processes and supply chain issues across the local-to-mainstream food supply chain.
The grant work will focus on two types of unharvested produce: cosmetically imperfect (does not meet USDA #1 standards for scarring, size, or shape, but is otherwise edible); and produce that meets USDA #1 standards but is left in the field because harvesting costs exceed the market price of the produce. Figuring out how to "recover" this otherwise wasted produce can both improve growers' bottom line and make our food system more efficient and sustainable..
NC Growing Together and the North Carolina Rural Center are partnering to develop a monthly webinar series targeted towards small business counselors and other staff who work with food and farm business development around the state.
NC Growing Together is working with a new "partner": CEFS' University Foods Systems: Farm to Campus, Campus to Farm initiative (UFOODS). UFOODS seeks to network campuses with their local food communities, specifically to develop new market opportunities for producers.
March 2017 -- NC Growing Together's newest partner is the Charlotte-based Piedmont Culinary Guild (PCG). The PCG is working to connect the food chain in the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina by providing a gathering place and hub for innovative chefs, farmers, food artisans, culinary educators, and other professionals committed to building [...]
FreshPoint, in partnership with NC Growing Together and NC Cooperative Extension, hosted two informational sessions for interested growers on February 21 in Raleigh and February 23 in Charlotte.
March 2017 -- NC Growing Together has released several new resources that will be of interest to producers, buyers, educators, and other audiences.
March 2017 -- Two webinars for small business developers and a Good Agricultural Practices workshop are coming up in April and May.
Participants of the Season Extension workshop held February 8th at the Onslow County Incubator Farm. February 2017 -- Last April, NC Growing Together reported on Farm-to-Base and Base-to-Farm Efforts at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. NCGT matched funds with Onslow County Cooperative Extension and the Onslow County Farmers Market Association to hire a [...]
NCGT presented at the February APA-NC meeting in Saxapahaw, NC. February 2017 -- NC Growing Together's Local Food Economies initiative is providing resources and tools to professional associations around the state for supporting agricultural economic development and food entrepreneurship. In July 2016, the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-NC) invited [...]
