Welcome to the June 2013 e-news! Below you’ll meet some of our wonderful CEFS people: our Board Chair, Cheryl Queen; our new apprentices; and our new Small Farm Unit Manager.
You’ll also read about some of our ongoing work including our recent Women Working in the Meat Business Retreat, the cutting-edge research happening at our 2000-acre facility in Goldsboro, and the very exciting start of our NC Growing Together project, the result of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant we told you about in our last e-newsletter.
You’ll learn about our work to develop a statewide youth council, and the work of SWARM Alumna Kebreeya Lewis, whose successful campaign to get a salad bar into her high school cafeteria was recently featured on HBO’s Weight of the Nation series. Watch it! It’s a beautiful and motivating piece. These young folks are our future.
Speaking of the future, with the average age of farmers at 59, we need to focus efforts on supporting the next generation of farmers. We were very pleased that the June 9th Farm to Fork picnic, a fundraiser for beginning farmer programs at CEFS and Breeze Farm, was such a success. The picnic, featuring an amazing menu from 34 chef-farmer pairings, sold out as in previous years. It was a wonderful afternoon with delicious food, great music, beautiful weather, wonderful kids’ activities, and lots of fun and enthusiasm!
Finally, we’d like to welcome CEFS’ newest Board Member, Sue Perry Cole. Sue is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations, and is leading a program in Rocky Mount focusing on improving health outcomes and economic development through local food systems. We are so pleased to have Sue join our Board. Welcome Sue!
Dr. John O’Sullivan, CEFS Co- Director, NC A&T State University
Dr. Nancy Creamer, CEFS Co- Director, NC State University
From the June 2013 E-Newsletter