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 [...]
Why measure crops you’ve already decided aren’t worth harvesting? We can give you one good reason. Our team learned several leftover crops on North Carolina farms were of high enough quality to sell profitably. On the flip side, we also learned some crops wouldn’t justify the cost of sending the harvest crews back in.
Paid student apprenticeships with area food and farm businesses are now open for applications from WNC students. The apprenticeship program is part of the EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Project in the seven western counties of North Carolina, including the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Mountain Food & Farm Apprenticeship Program [...]
Last month, Whole Foods Market selected the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) and Piedmont Culinary Guild (PCG) as community partners for their 5% Day Community Giving Day. On October 17th, 11 participating Whole Foods Market locations across North Carolina donated 5% of their net sales to CEFS and PCG. To our wonderful volunteers and [...]
November 12, 2019: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Dr. Chris Reberg-Horton, Assistant Director of Collaborative Research at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) and Professor of Cropping Systems at North Carolina State University, (919) 515-7597 or screberg@ncsu.edu. Raleigh, NC: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a five-year, [...]
Why measure crops you’ve already decided aren’t worth harvesting? We can give you one good reason. Our team learned several leftover crops on North Carolina farms were of high enough quality to sell profitably. On the flip side, we also learned some crops wouldn’t justify the cost of sending the harvest crews back in.
August 7, 2019: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Dr. Angel Cruz, CEFS Academic and Extension Initiatives Manager: 919-513-0954 or aecruz@ncsu.edu Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) has announced the 2019-2020 recipients of its NC State Graduate Student Fellowships. The CEFS NC State University Graduate Fellows Program was developed to provide financial support [...]
Twenty-five years ago in North Carolina, amid rising concern about the impact of agriculture on the environment, a groundbreaking partnership was established.
Stepping into CEFS’ early days, it was clear right away what made this new initiative different: it was an innovative, interdisciplinary, collaborative effort between different departments at multiple universities, and included voices from non-profit organizations, farmers, and the general public.
CEFS was awarded $1,100,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to develop sustainable infrastructure for local and regional food systems in Western North Carolina in collaboration with regional partners.
