In November 2025, Juliann Moore completed CEFS’s Sustainable Vegetable Production Apprenticeship. Today, they manage the same certified organic farm where they completed their apprenticeship, Clem’s Organic Gardens, near the Pisgah National Forest and the city of Brevard, NC.
Juliann participated in the apprenticeship’s new organic track, developed with support from the Southeast Transition to Organic Partnership Program (SE TOPP*). The track expands CEFS’s registered agricultural apprenticeship program by providing focused training and mentorship in organic production practices, certification requirements and the role certification can play in connecting small farms with reliable markets.
Clem’s Organic Gardens operates on 16 certified organic acres, including eight acres in crop production. The farm specializes in field-grown root and storage crops and tunnel-grown heirloom tomatoes for wholesale markets. As farm manager, Juliann now oversees the farm’s crop plan, daily production operations and leads a team of eight employees.
Apprentices complete 3000 hours of paid on-the-job training and 216 hours of related instruction, including eight core competencies and 47 farm management skills. Juliann’s training included crop planning, variety selection, soil health, integrated pest management and the practices and recordkeeping required to maintain organic certification. The program also made it possible for Juliann to attend classes, conferences, training and networking events that strengthened their technical knowledge and professional network. Juliann now names the program’s efforts to remove cost-related barriers to education and training as one of the most helpful aspects of their apprenticeship.
Nearly a year after completing the apprenticeship, Juliann continues to draw on “the lasting connections [they] made with other farmers and other folks in the ag community.”
Juliann’s professional advancement demonstrates how SE TOPP’s investment extends beyond a single apprentice. The organic track helped prepare a new farm leader who is now applying and sharing organic production knowledge across an entire farm team. Their success provides a strong foundation for CEFS to continue preparing the next generation of skilled organic farmers and farm managers.
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“[The apprenticeship] was really helpful for the lasting connections I made with other farmers and other folks in the ag community. Getting paid to take classes and go to conferences made things very accessible for me. It would have been hard to swing some of those aspects without that. I greatly appreciated all of the support from CEFS as I grew as a farm manager.” – Juliann Moore, Farm Manager, Clem’s Organic Gardens