| The annual meeting of the North Carolina Growing Together project was hosted on Feb. 24, by the Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina A&T State University.
NC Growing Together is a five-year (2013-17) USDA-funded project that works to bring more locally grown foods – produce, meat, dairy and seafood – into mainstream retail and food-service supply chains.
The project is led by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a partnership of N.C. A&T, North Carolina State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The project has more than 25 partners across the state, including Lowes Foods and NC Cooperative Extension.
“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.
Representatives from the entire local food supply chain – from farmers and fishermen, to processors and distributors, to food hubs and food retailers, to Extension agents, non-profit partners, students and researchers – were in attendance. The goal of the meeting was to collaborate, network, celebrate successes and brainstorm solutions to challenges in scaling up local foods for mainstream markets.
For more information about NC Growing Together, please visit www.ncgrowingtogether.org |
