NC Growing Together News
Find news posts from 2013-2018 from our NC Growing Together Initiative. You can also find all these articles in our NCGT Newsletter archive.
NCGT Releases Guide to Selling Eggs into Grocery Stores
August 2015 -- NC Growing Together has released a new report entitled How to Sell Shell Eggs into Grocery Stores through Direct Store Delivery. It is intended for small to medium-scale North Carolina egg producers [...]
NCGT Networking Events Facilitate Profitable Connections Between Producers and Buyers
August 2015 -- Shawn and Karen King are making big business out of tiny greens. The couple's company, MicroGreen King in Yadkin County, produces a variety of microgreens hydroponically, using only water, light and natural [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Tracy Grubb, NC 10% Campaign
Tracy (right) with NC 10% Campaign Director Robyn Stout. July 2015 -- Situated in Raleigh, NC, Tracy has been working with the NC 10% Campaign. As their apprentice, Tracy has mostly focused [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Gigi Lytton, Lowes Foods
July 2015 -- As the Lowes Foods supply chain apprentice, Gigi has examined employee training in order to identify more ways in which store employees can learn about local food and then educate their customers [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Josie Walker, Feast Down East
July 2015 -- This summer, Josie has been working with Feast Down East, also called the Southeastern North Carolina Food Systems Program, in Burgaw, NC. Josie has contributed to several different Feast Down East [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Kristen Miller, NC Choices
July 2015 -- Working with NC Choices, Kristen has learned a lot about local meat supply chains. Participating on many levels, Kristen has had the opportunity to help with a Women Working in the Meat [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Shirlee Evans, NC Cooperative Extension
July 2015 -- Located near her family's farm in Fayetteville, Shirlee has been working with the Cumberland County Cooperative Extension as they support local farmers in their community. In particular, Shirlee has been instrumental in working [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Eva Moss, Firsthand Foods
July 2015 -- As the apprentice for Firsthand Foods, Eva has participated in several projects aimed at connecting small, pasture-based meat farmers to local markets. In particular, Eva has worked on two main projects, the first [...]
NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices: Erin Lowe, TRACTOR
July 2015 -- As the apprentice for TRACTOR (Toe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional Inc.), Erin has enjoyed working with the food hub community as they seek to support and educate farmers regarding how to get [...]
Producers: Wake County GAPs Workshop, June 16
Navigating the USDA GAP Audit: Wake County June 16, 2015 - 9 am to 4 pm NC Growing Together is partnering with Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Cooperative Extension [...]
NC State Graduate Student to Present Work on the Local Multiplier Effect
June 2015 -- Over the past four years, NC State Horticulture Science PhD student Drew Marticorena has been studying the "Local Multiplier Effect", the economic ripple effect that occurs within a community when consumers [...]
NCGT Summer Apprentices Ready to Hit the Ground Running!
June 2015 -- The NC Growing Together Summer 2015 Local Food Supply Chain Apprentices are on the ground and ready to get started on their 8-week assignments! Meet them below: Josie Walker is from [...]
NCGT Releases Farmstead Creamery Report
Photo by Debbie Roos. June 2015 -- NC Growing Together has released a baseline survey on North Carolina's growing farmstead creamery industry. A "farmstead" creamery, by definition, is one that manufactures on-farm, value-added [...]
Updated Pricing and Quality Control Resources for Growers
March 2015 - NC Growing Together has updated several pricing and quality control resources for growers. To supplement its popular guide Wholesale and Retail Product Specifications: Guidance and Best Practices for Fresh Produce, NCGT recently [...]
NCGT Partner MDI to Focus on Increasing Local Produce Distribution
March 2015 - Mike Burris, who served as the Director of Produce for 27 years at Merchant"s Distributors, Inc., the Hickory-based grocery distributor that online casino is a sister company to NCGT partner Lowes Foods, [...]
Upcoming Events: Postharvest Handling for Enhanced Shelf Life Workshops
March 2015 - The economic success of fruit and vegetable production is highly dependent on postharvest quality preservation. When marketing fresh fruits and vegetables, understanding the processes affecting product quality during storage and transportation is [...]
NCGT and the NC 10% Campaign Connect Farmers and Buyers
March 2015 - On March 2 at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, approximately 20 North Carolina growers and buyers sat across tables from each other, in a kind of business development speed-dating. They had eight [...]
Fitting “Local” into a “Mainstream” Distribution System
February 2015 - One of the biggest challenges facing local small and mid-sized producers and large-scale "mainstream" buyers (grocery chains and wholesale distributors) is how to move smaller volumes of source-identified product from farm to [...]
NCGT and Partners to Deliver Postharvest Handling Workshops
February 2015 - This spring NC Growing Together, NC State University, and the Cooperative Extension Service are partnering to offer Post-Harvest Handling for Enhanced Shelf Life workshops for small and mid-sized growers. Half-day workshops will be held [...]
NCGT and Partners Offer New “Lunch-and-Learn” Webinar Series for Farmers
February 2015 - NC Growing Together is partnering with NC Farm Bureau, NC State University Department of Horticultural Science, and NC Cooperative Extension to offer the Farmer Idea Lab, a new "Lunch-N-Learn" webinar series designed to [...]
Partner Profile: Cornucopia Cheese & Specialty Foods Company
February 2015 - Food distributor Cornucopia Cheese & Specialty Foods Company was founded in 1980 in the back of a community grocery store in rural Alamance County. It is now one of the leading cheese and [...]
NCGT to Host Farmer-Buyer Connections Event March 2
January 2015 - Please note, this event was originally scheduled for February 17 and was re-scheduled to March 2 due to inclement weather. Are you a GAP-certified farmer looking for new markets to sell your [...]
Local Dairy Producers Connecting to Larger Markets
January 2015 - NC Growing Together is working to connect the state's small and medium-scale dairy producers with larger markets. North Carolina is a milk-deficit state, meaning we produce only about half of the milk [...]
NCGT Study Shows Local Meat Availability Has Positive Effects on Grocery Shoppers
The refridgerator unit is clean and the lighting is good. You can clearly read the labels on the packaging. The prices are prominently displayed and you can see the brand. The meat being sold [...]
NCGT Sponsors MBA Study of Locally-Sourced Bagged Frozen Produce
December 2014 - NC Growing Together is sponsoring student teams at NC State Poole College of Management's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative and Consumer Innovation Consortium that are addressing pressing business and supply chain issues. In the [...]