The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), North Carolina State University and partners recently received two grants from Dogwood Health Trust to support our longstanding work in Western North Carolina. These two new grants include:
- A two-year, $500,000 grant to support Western North Carolina (WNC) Sustainable Agriculture Workforce Initiatives, a collaborative effort between CEFS, NC Choices, Warren Wilson College and Organic Growers School. This grant will fund a series of regionally-rooted, farm-based training efforts to prepare a skilled agricultural workforce needed to build a more climate-resilient food system post-Hurricane Helene. Funds will be used to continue the WNCStrong Youth Service Corps, pilot the first registered apprenticeship in pastured livestock production in North Carolina and implement a Western NC cohort of CEFS’s Sustainable Vegetable Production Registered Apprenticeship. We are currently composing our 2026 cohort of schools, teachers, youth and farms for the WNCStrong Youth Service Corps and recruiting host farms and apprentices for the CEFS Sustainable Vegetable Production Registered Apprenticeship. The pastured livestock production apprenticeship is planned to launch in the fall of 2026. Stay up to date on project activities on the CEFS website or by joining the CEFS Career Pathways email list.
- A two-year, $145,200 grant to support a collaboration between CEFS Farm to Senior Services (F2SS), Empowering Mountain Food Systems and N.C. Cooperative Extension. The project, “Piloting Community-based Farm to Senior Services Strategies to Improve Food Security for Older Adults in Rural Western North Carolina,” will build on existing work in McDowell County and support new F2SS local food purchasing pilot efforts in Burke County, Yancey County and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). Learn more here.
CEFS is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Dogwood Health Trust and expand our impact in Western North Carolina.