July 2014 – NC Growing Together partners have been working on several different fronts to identify and increase local foods purchasing on NC military bases.
NCGT partner NCEast Alliance (NCEA) is a regional economic development corporation serving more than one million North Carolina residents from the edges of the Research Triangle to the Atlantic Coast.
In 2009, NCEA, in partnership with Marine Corps Installations EAST (MCIEAST), initiated an agribusiness development program known as “Food & Fuel 4 the Forces” (FF4F). FF4F seeks to leverage the Marine Corps’ demand for food and renewable fuels in ways that benefit the rural economy of eastern NC.
Food & Fuel 4 the Forces Program Manager George Miller is on NCGT’s Management Team. Says Miller, “The FF4F program has many complimentary goals to those of NCGT as they pertain to increasing the use of local food on North Carolina military bases. The years of experience working with the Marines brings institutional knowledge and network connections that benefit the work NCGT is doing with Fort Bragg.”
NCGT is partnering with Fort Bragg to create entry points for local food within the military procurement system that serves the Fayetteville military installation.
On June 10, NCEA and the NC Military Business Center hosted a “Food 4 the Forces” event in New Bern. The day-long event was a statewide business development opportunity that connected NC growers and food producers with senior military officials, and educated NC producers on Department of Defense (DoD) food acquisition processes.
Presenters included NCGT’s Wholesaler Liaison Trish Tripp (who talked about “Pathways to Partnership: Developing a Farmer Network Near Base”) and Lowes Foods Liaison Ariel Fugate (who talked about “Local in ‘Mainstream’ Retail”). G.W. Stanley of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) and Steve Johnson of Foster-Caviness also spoke at the event. NCDA&CS has been working for many years to support local sourcing on NC military bases.
At the event, Colonel Robert E. King, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support Subsistence Director, announced that DLA will begin to include information on “place of origin” for food purchasing through their STORES ordering system. The DLA, an agency of the Department of Defense, provides worldwide logistics support including food procurement for U.S. military services.
The designation means that, for the first time, it will be possible to identify local produce for those making purchasing decisions in the military food procurement process. The designation will hopefully allow local food purchasing on military bases to be tracked and increased over time. Said Col. King, “The update to the STORES system is proceeding and we are expecting to have access to the information after the first of the year.”
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2014 NC Growing Together Newsletter.