Attendee map from the April 11 webinar: 67 attendees from all over the state.

April 2017 — NC Growing Together and the North Carolina Rural Center  are partnering to develop a monthly webinar series targeted towards  small business counselors and other staff who work with food and farm business development around the state. The webinars will continue through August and are designed for business counselors, Cooperative Extension agents, and the staff of other supportive agencies to learn more about the specific business needs of food and farm businesses.

The idea for the webinar series arose from a series of workshop sessions hosted by NCGT at Small Business Center and Small Business Technology Development Center events around the state, during which participants identified areas of need for future training and resource development.

“These agencies already bring tremendous knowledge of either business planning or food production to the table for their clients.  These webinars are designed to increase that knowledge, particularly around the unique legal, regulatory, and business environments of food and farm businesses,” says Emily Edmonds, NCGT’s Extension and Outreach Program Manager.

The webinars are led by guest experts on each topic and facilitated by Edmonds.  The series kicked off with an April webinar, Start or Grow a Food Business in North Carolina, featuring Jill Willett, Founder of Coaching for Cooks and Triangle Food Makers.   The recorded webinar and handout can be found on the NCGT website, here .  Future topics will include Succession Planning and Heirs Property, Legal Issues for Farm and Food Businesses , and Place-Based Entrepreneurship Programs.

The next webinar, Food Business Incubators in North Carolina: Incubator Kitchens and the Business Networks that Support their Clients, will be held on May 24.  Three successful kitchen incubators — Blue Ridge Food Ventures in Western North Carolina, the Eastern Carolina Incubator Kitchen at James Sprunt Community College in Southeastern North Carolina, and the PREP Station (formerly Piedmont Food and Agriculture Processing Center) in Orange County — will discuss their services, facilities, and common challenges and opportunities for small food businesses.  Registration is free.  For more information, please visit the NCGT website’s Events page.

This article originally appeared in the April 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.