A team that includes Associate Professor Janet MacFall and Assistant Professor Ryan Kirk will use a $25,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce to help grow retail opportunities for farmers in two North Carolina counties.
Elon University researchers have received a $25,000 grant for a yearlong project to better connect local farmers with grocery stores and restaurants that sell North Carolina produce.
Led by Associate Professor Janet MacFall in Elon’s Center for Environmental Studies, in coordination with Ryan Kirk in the Department of History and Geography, the team will compile three inventories using funds from the North Carolina Department of Commerce Rural Economic Development Division:
- ŸExisting and potential produce growers in North Carolina’s Alamance and Rockingham counties;
- Businesses in the same two counties with the ability to keep produce in cold storage;
- ŸAnd locations described as “regional food hubs” where grocery store chains, restaurants and schools could purchase large quantities of local produce supplied by multiple farms.
The combined lists will make it possible to connect food growers with retail opportunities beyond traditional farmers markets. In addition to the inventories, the grant supports the team in conducting workshops for local growers and distributing educational materials to residents with an interest in sustainable agriculture.
“Small farms are rapidly expanding in North Carolina, making this region a national model,” MacFall said. “But access to markets is a major barrier. The goal of this project is to work with farmers, businesses, non-profits and local governments to help overcome this challenge for sustainable, local economic growth.”
MacFall and Kirk are joined on the project by representatives from the Piedmont Conservation Council and Poiesis Design and Planning.
MORE COVERAGE: “Elon grant’s goal: Build market for local food” in the (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News