NC Choices

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. NC Choices provides information, technical assistance, educational programming, and networking opportunities for farmers, extension agents, meat processors, buyers, distributors, and consumers.

NEW Project: NC Choices Supports Beginning Meat Producers with Business Resources, Training, and Land-Lease Opportunities

NC Choices launches a new USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher grant focused on increasing the number of beginning farmers raising meat through either pasture-based or silvopasture systems by providing them with novel land acquisition strategies, resources, and training opportunities to increase skills, decision-making tools, and the market and buyer connections needed to operate profitably.

NC Choices will help pair beginning farmers with solar farms, landowners with woodland plots for silvopasture, and land conservancy land under conservation easements across the state.

THINK YOU MIGHT BE A GOOD FIT?

Are you a beginning NC meat producer (raising meat animals for 10 years or less) looking to lease land?

Are you a NC land owner with woodland acreage, land under conservation easement, or solar panel installations interested in working with grazing animal production?

Please click here to learn more about the project and fill out an “interest form” and a team member will be in touch with you.

Poultry Processing Updates:

Due to the 2017 closure of Foothills Pilot Plant, information and updates on the status of  poultry processing options across the state can be found below.  Click to view the following:

NC Choices News

Silvopasture Field Day | Goldsboro, NC

June 17th, 2019|Comments Off on Silvopasture Field Day | Goldsboro, NC

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 [...]

Resources

NC Choices offers a large collection of resource documents and multimedia to support the farmers, extension agents, meat processors, buyers, distributors and consumers of North Carolina. See our full library of NC Choices resources here.