CEFS’ Farming Systems Research Unit (FSRU) is one of seven research units at CEFS’ 2000-acre research facility in Goldsboro, NC. Situated on approximately 81 hectares (200+ acres) of pastures, woodlands, and permanent agricultural land, the unit houses a long-term, large-scale interdisciplinary study of five different systems: 1) Best Management Practices (BMP) in a Conventional Cash [...]
Cheryl Queen Cheryl Queen, Chair of the CEFS Board of Advisors, leads communication and corporate affairs for Compass Group USA, the leading contract food and support services company with annual revenue of $12 billion. Within that role she has also shaped the company's corporate responsibility initiatives including support of family farms and local economies, [...]
Youth Food Advisory Council members and adult allies at FYI's first training gathering, Storytelling as a Tool for Advocacy, March 2013 CEFS, in cooperation with various community partners, is piloting a statewide youth food advisory council to support the development of youth networks and train youth in capacity-building for food advocacy work. The effort [...]
CEFS is excited to welcome Marisa Benzle, former Small Farm Unit Apprentice, back to CEFS as the Small Farm Unit Manager. Here, Marisa tells us about what has inspired her sustainable agriculture journey, from Ohio to CEFS to The Gambia, West Africa, and back. Marisa did her Peace Corps service in The Gambia, [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Mr. Michael Tiemann, Vice President of Open Source Affairs at Red Hat, is a founding member of the CEFS Board of Advisors. Michael Tiemann Mr. Tiemann founded the world's first open source software company in 1989, which means that for the past 24 years he has been trying to explain how one can make [...]
