Spring Greetings! We begin this letter by celebrating the wonderful success of our May 3rd CEFS Field Day. The NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services’ Research Station staff, university faculty and students, the CEFS’ programs and projects team, community partners, and farm apprentices worked together to create a truly memorable day for the nearly 300 participants who attended.
Attendees had the opportunity to visit the Small Farm Unit and community engagement sites as well as the Systems Research, Organic and Livestock units. Comments by some of our stakeholders, including National SARE Program Director Dr. Rob Hedberg, showed that our research, outreach, and academic programs are well-appreciated nationally.
In other exciting news, CEFS’ work is being recognized in very meaningful ways. We were recently awarded the NCSU Opal Mann Green Engagement and Scholarship Award, which recognizes the creation of inclusionary teams to pursue community-based learning and action around issues of local importance. CEFS was also named a regional winner of the C. Peter Macgrath Community Engagement Award, a national distinction which recognizes outreach and engagement partnership efforts of four-year public universities. We are honored to have our work recognized in these ways, and grateful for the many wonderful partnerships that give our work its true relevance.
Looking ahead, the 2012 Summer Internship Program is about to start. Eighteen participants were selected from more than sixty applicants! We have made some changes to our program so that it continues to live up to the rave reviews we see ourselves getting in blogs and tweets across cyberspace.
We are excited about our new Produce Ped’lers rickshaws running between the Goldsboro farmers’ markets and customers who lack convenient access to fresh and local produce. We were honored to have USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon join us for the program’s launch and announce that the Goldsboro market has been approved for SNAP benefits.
Finally, the Farm to Fork Picnic paired 28 of the area’s most amazing chefs and farmers in a sold-out all-you-can-eat feast on May 20. The weather was perfect for a celebration of local foods and great fun was had by all. The event is a fundraiser for the apprenticeship program at CEFS and the PLANT @ Breeze Farm Incubator.
Here’s to another season of fresh, healthy and delicious North Carolina produce. Let’s work to make the bounty accessible to all.
Dr. John O’Sullivan, CEFS Director, NCA&TSU
Dr. Nancy Creamer, CEFS Director, NCSU
From the May 2012 E-Newsletter