July 2017 — Erin Welty is a rising senior at the University of South Carolina, majoring in English. She became interested in a career in local food and agriculture after interning at a community garden in Cedar Grove, North Carolina last summer. Originally from Clemmons, NC, Erin was excited to be placed near her home community at the Lowes Foods headquarters in Winston-Salem, and have a chance to approach food and agriculture from the standpoint of a major retailer. This summer Erin has taken charge of the newsletter which goes out to customers who take part in the “Carolina Crate,” Lowes’ local produce box. The newsletter includes information about what will be in the box each week and where it came from, including farmer bios and recipes. Through this, Erin has learned about graphic design and using online templates to get information out to customers.
A second project is to help her apprenticeship mentor Krista Morgan, Lowes Local Food Accounts Representative (and former team member of the CEFS/NCGT project) complete farmer bios that will be used throughout Lowes Foods locations for in-store advertisements about their vendors. To do this, she has visited local farms with Krista, and says this has been her favorite part of the apprenticeship. Says Erin, “farmers in rural communities are why I think local food is so important. Getting to be around farmers and hear all the knowledge they have and how to support what they’re doing – it keeps me motivated.”
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.