NC Choices – Center for Environmental Farming Systems

Hundreds Expected at National Conference Showcasing North Carolina’s Leadership in Sustainable Meat and Dairy; An Impressive Roster of Speakers Including Dr. Temple Grandin

Janie Hynson — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 20:55:31 +0000

July 3, 2024

Contact:
Janie Hynson
Communications Manager
Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS)
janie_hynson@ncsu.edu
919-213-1390

Photos and other assets: Media Kit

NC State University and Appalachian State University, two institutions on the vanguard of promoting sustainable agriculture, are coming together to demonstrate North Carolina’s cutting edge in local foods. NC Choices’ Carolina Meat Conference (CMC) will be held July 30-31, 2024 in Boone, NC. The Carolina Meat Conference is a nationally recognized conference for aspiring business professionals working with meat and dairy and has sold out every year since it began in 2011. Hundreds of farmers, processors, buyers, and industry professionals from across the country who raise, butcher, prepare, and/or market pasture-raised meat will benefit from hands-on workshops, butchery demos, and cutting edge classes pertaining to the specialty meat industry.

This event has been organized by NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension. NC Choices promotes sustainable food systems through the advancement of the local, niche, and pasture-based meat supply chain in North Carolina. This year, for the first time ever, the Carolina Meat Conference is combining forces with the Southeast Value-Added Dairy Conference for the ultimate meat and cheese event of the year. CMC will also be serving as the Southern Meat Summit, bringing together regional partners from all Southeastern states.

An incredible lineup of 70+ speakers will include the following keynotes:

Dr. Temple Grandin, Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, will discuss her groundbreaking work in autism advocacy and animal behavior.
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, visionary CEO of Tree-Range Farms is reshaping the food system through regenerative land practices, animal health, and ensuring family farmer profitability and sustainability.
Greg Fishel, a seasoned broadcast meteorologist with an impressive 40-year career in radio and TV, will share insights into meteorology and climate change.
Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman at White Oak Pastures in Georgia, will be joining the conference remotely to share his perspective as a global leader in humane animal husbandry and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Stephan van Vliet, a nutrition scientist with metabolomics expertise in the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University, is conducting groundbreaking research at the intersection of agriculture and human health.

The conference will include more than 50 business and marketing interactive trainings across the following eight tracks: business and supply chain, climate smart ag, finance and planning, health and wellbeing, market development, meat science, production management, and value-added dairy. Find workshop descriptions, the full conference agenda, and other event details here.

Registration for the conference also includes:

Local meat and cheese tastings
Value-Added Dairy Pre-Conference Tours at either Riverbend Creamery or Ashe County Cheese on Monday, July 29th
One-on-one curbside consulting with some of the nation’s top experts in the field
Book signings
Meat cutting demos
A Taste of the Highlands Argentinian-style, live fire farm supper on Tuesday, July 30th at 5pm featuring local beef, pork, lamb, and chicken prepared by Chef Craig Morrow of Live Fire Feasts
A closing plenary session on Wednesday, July 31st from 4:15-5:15pm by Dr. Michael McGraw, MES, QAWB, Senior Wildlife Biologist at Resource Environmental Solutions LLC and one of the scientists behind the documentary, Roots So Deep. Roots So Deep is a 4-part documentary series about inventive farmers and maverick scientists building a path to solving climate change with hooves, heart and soil, produced by the same team that produced Soil Carbon Cowboys. Dr. McGraw will share the latest updates on the Roots So Deep project, show a clip from the film, and participate in a dialogue with Amazing Grazing‘s Johnny Rogers.

Conference Date & Location:

July 30-31, 2024
Appalachian State University
287 Rivers Street
Boone, NC 28608

Conference Website: www.carolinameatconference.com

Instagram: @ncchoices

Facebook and Twitter: @nc_choices

Hashtag: #CarolinaMeatConference

Conference Tickets:

Purchase tickets here.

Additional Event – Temple Grandin Film Screening:

Free Public Screening of the Movie “Temple Grandin” (Monday, July 29th, doors open at 6:00pm)
Sponsored by Watauga County Farm Bureau and Lee Rankin, owner/operator of Apple Hill Farm, a free public screening of Temple Grandin will be held on Monday, July 29th from 6:30-9:30pm in the Appalachian Theater of the High Country located at 559 W. King Street, Boone, NC, 28607. Dr. Grandin will introduce the film about her life, Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes, and sign copies of her books following the screening in the community room upstairs. Tickets are free but must be reserved through the Appalachian Theater of the High Country here.

Event organizers available for interviews:

Please contact Janie Hynson for all interview requests (janie_hynson@ncsu.edu, 919-213-1390). Please include “Carolina Meat Conference Interview Request” in the email subject line.

NC Choices Holds “Next Level Marketing Strategies for Local, Niche Meat Businesses” Training

Marcello Cappellazzi — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 17:18:43 +0000

NC Choices held a “Next Level Marketing Strategies for Local, Niche Meat Businesses” training at the N.C. A&T Small Farm Pavilion on April 4, 2023. The workshop sold-out with 150 attendees interested in taking their local meat marketing and sales to the next level. The first half of the day set the stage for an array of marketing, pricing, sales, and online strategies critical to selling high quality local meat, with keynote speakers Mr. Oliver Lee Mincey and Dr. Jennifer Martin. The day closed with specific strategies to develop a marketing plan that converts customer interest into sustained sales, with closing remarks by Craig McAnsh from Native Marketing.

Quotes from participants included:

“I told you each on Tuesday, but bears repeating. This was one of the best, most productive events I’ve been to. Great job.”

“Wow! What an absolutely phenomenal workshop! So glad I was able to attend! I learned SO much.”

Interested in NC Choices events? Sign up for our newsletter and save the date for the 2024 Carolina Meat Conference to be held in Boone, NC, July 29-30, 2024!

Increasing Meat Production and Capacity Grant Program

Marcello Cappellazzi — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 21:20:14 +0000

Since the beginning of the pandemic, many of the complexities and inequalities in our nation’s supply chain have come to light. One important lesson that we learned as a society is that heavy reliance on traditional supply chains comes with some vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to meat production and processing.

Livestock farmers across North Carolina quickly learned to navigate the new market environment, with many resorting to using new marketing tools like MeatSuite.com to increase their sales at a time of soaring consumer demand. As more North Carolinians bought locally raised meats, farmers brought more animals to be processed at the small independent processing plants available across the state. Waitlists quickly grew to a year or more, preventing the North Carolina local food economy from effectively meeting the food needs of our people.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) quickly mobilized to address this supply chain bottleneck by making funds available through the Increasing Meat Production and Capacity Grant (IMPEC) Program. The key to this program’s success is its ability to rely on a well-established network of producers, processors, marketers, allied partners, and Extension agents embedded in the niche market for pasture-raised meats. NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and NC Cooperative Extension, promotes sustainable food systems through the advancement of the local, niche, and pasture-based meat supply chains in North Carolina. With almost 20 years of experience in elevating market opportunities for local farmers, the NC Choices team worked closely with our partners at NCDA&CS to provide technical assistance to processors in order to expand their slaughter capacity and better service independent farmers across the state.

NC Choices directed staff efforts toward supporting state and federally inspected meat processing facilities during COVID and that included working with our partners at NCDA&CS to help processors prepare and submit their applications, bring in national consultants to help advise on their expansion plans, and work with equipment suppliers to leverage industry expertise wherever possible (a process that was mentored by CEFS’ Board member, Richard Hibbits. A total of 23 facilities were awarded nearly $17M in Legislative CARES Act funding to retool their facilities and increase animal throughput due to COVID slowdowns during the first IMPEC round.

NC Choices continued to provide technical assistance to processors implementing upgrades as part of the Legislative funds with the second round of IMPEC grants. Notably, NC Choices brought in a meat-processing consultant, Keith Dehaan, to visit area processors in western NC. NC Choices also provided targeted technical assistance to Watauga Butchery and Watauga Cooperative Extension on processing needs in their area.

The team recently conducted site visits for 12 processor awardees, and provided one-on-one technical assistance on project expansions. Technical assistance varied widely from scheduling processor/industry consultations, helping with permitting, to regulatory troubleshooting.

In early 2021, the NC Choices advisory committee worked with community partners to develop a subgroup with the goal of expressing industry needs and funding impacts as it relates to the niche meat sector. Representatives in the group include NC Choices, Farm Bureau, NC Cattlemen’s Association, Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, NCDA&CS, farmers, federally inspected processors, and additional private sector partners. We channeled our energy around organizing a funder tour to display the impact of recent COVID-19 NC Legislature CARES Act funding directed in the meat processing sector. The tour, spearheaded by NCC’ board member Debbie Hamrick and NCDA&CS partners, took place February 27 at Wilkes Abattoir and included Representative Jeff Elmore from Wilkes County and Representative Rep Kyle Hall from Stokes County. The goal was to highlight and showcase the direct impact of these funds, what groups like NC Choices, NCDA&CS, and partners are doing to support them, and articulate future industry needs.

Sarah Blacklin, NC Choices Program Director, and Lee Menius, Technical Program Coordinator, both participated in the NCDA&CS Increasing Meat Processing Efficiency and Capacity (IMPEC) Round III grant application review committee. NC Choices continues to serve on the planning team with a group of stakeholders to help direct funding needs for a potential IMPEC Round IV.

Triangle area butchers and meat markets

Marcello Cappellazzi — Wed, 13 May 2020 17:35:30 +0000

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

Marcello Cappellazzi — Wed, 13 May 2020 17:32:43 +0000

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 consumers, as well as grocery store shortages largely due to panic buying, the fact remains that there is no current shortage of meat in the US.

NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension, promotes sustainable food systems through the advancement of the local, niche and pasture-based meat supply chain in North Carolina. This effort has launched a program called “Meat Suite.” Meat Suite” is another option for households to find locally raised meat and purchase in bulk. “Meat Suite is in the early phases of listing farms in North Carolina, but consumers can now search for producers near them filtered by distance, product and production practices. You can begin your search at http://meatsuite.com.

Read the full article here.

NC Choices talks about MeatSuite and programming that supports small farmers during COVID

Marcello Cappellazzi — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 19:26:17 +0000

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 discuss food and hunger in North Carolina during the crisis.

*This episode of First in Future was recorded on Thursday, April 16th, and reflects information that was up-to-date at that time.*

View the slides here.

Listen to the podcast or Watch Zoom Video.

Solar Grazing Workshop

Marcello Cappellazzi — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:46:06 +0000

May 21 @ 8:00 am – 3:00 pm

Solar grazing has the potential to serve as a win/win for sheep producers and solar companies. Join us at Rogers Cattle Company to learn how sheep producers have opportunities to contract for vegetation management and how solar companies can potentially save money while helping the environment and local community. Hear directly from solar grazers as well as from Strata Solar, one of the nation’s largest solar companies, on what they are doing to contract with farmers here in NC.

Registration, Agenda, and Event Details HERE

New website helps consumers find local farmers selling meat in bulk

Marcello Cappellazzi — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:43:36 +0000

“As you have likely noticed in recent weeks, fresh beef, chicken and pork have all been hard to find on the grocery shelves. As consumers have stocked up in anticipation of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, the meat shelves in many stores have been nearly empty.”

Read the full article on WRAL.com

Website Connects Meat Farmers and Consumers

Marcello Cappellazzi — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 14:39:54 +0000

Spectrum News covers MeatSuite.com, a website where consumers can find local farms selling pasture-raised meat in bulk. | Spectrum News

Silvopasture Field Day | Goldsboro, NC

Sarah Blacklin — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 01:51:25 +0000

July 25 @ 9:00am – 4:45pm | $25

Silvopasture, the intentional practice of integrating forages, animals and trees, is one type of agroforestry with potential to improve ecosystem responses and provide multiple sources of farm income.

Are you interested in successfully transitioning or starting a silvopasture system? Join us for a workshop, field day, and on-farm instruction including the latest silvopasture research from North Carolina and Virginia.

Plus, learn about a new NC Choices USDA project aimed at connecting beginning livestock producers with silvopasture and other land opportunities across the state.