NC Growing Together’s Annual Meeting Convenes Entire Local Food Supply Chain

Cliff Pilson of CV Pilson Farms talks with Chris Woodring, Senior VP of FreshPoint, Raleigh.

February 2016 — On February 24, NC Growing Together hosted more than fifty farmers, fishermen, ranchers, food processors, wholesalers, retailers, and extension educators for its fourth annual meeting, held at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The group represented the entire local food supply chain.

“Every year we’ve seen a doubling both in the number of local producers as well as mainstream businesses that attend,” said NCGT Project and Research Coordinator Rebecca Dunning.

Randy Lewis of Ran-Lew Dairy in Alamance County talks with Ryan Moore, Food Service Director, Aramark, UNC-CH.

The main goals of the annual meeting are to report to the group on project activities in the past year, to draw on the group’s collective wisdom and suggestions to guide project work in the coming year, and to give attendees the opportunity to network with others along the food supply chain.

Paul Lieb, co-CEO, Foster-Caviness, and Lauren Horning, Sales and Marketing Specialist, Foster-Caviness talk with growers and others.

“Hosting this meeting is another opportunity for Cooperative Extension at A&T to provide innovative leadership and collaboration on local foods, a priority issue for us as we serve our communities locally, statewide and beyond,” said Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, interim dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at A&T.

For more information on NCGT’s activities in 2015, you can view the presentation that Dunning gave at the meeting.

This article originally appeared in the February 2016 NC Growing Together Newsletter.