Progress 12/15/12 to 12/14/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for the project work include primary food producers (farmers, ranchers, fishermen) and smaller-scale food manufacturers seeking to enhance their business viability by selling through retail grocery and food service market channels; the buyers and other intermediaries that connect producers with consumers such as distributors and food hub entities that complete the supply chain between producer and end consumer; elected local leaders and staff of local and regional government where policies supporting the development of small/mid-scale agricultural businesses are created; staff in the Cooperative Extension Service and Small Business Center Networkwho work to support small/mid- scale food producers with technical assistance; food system practitioners and advocates such as those who work in the non-profit sector building local food systems; university students in a variety of STEM and non-STEM fields participating in the summer local food business apprenticeship program; and MBA students who serve as supply chain fellows and participate in practicum teams working with project partners. Changes/Problems:The original project narrative foreshadowed possible challenges the project might face. We noted that the various business partners would be bringing different goals to the work that might conflict and stymie progress. Overall, the project has been able to work on shared objectives with project partners--for example, increasing the number of small and mid-scale produce farmers entering into grocery and food service supply chains--despite the fact that the goals of conventional food supply chain partners have been different than those of the project. We have adjusted to the market environment, approaching challenges by: (1) working with business partners to identify win-win, mutually beneficial options-- those benefitting small/mid-scale producers and intermediaries and the mainstream business partners--and to act on these (2) adding business partners to provide additional opportunities to engage in mutually beneficial projects, including food hubs, small processors, and cooperative grocery stores and box programs. The project remains true to its focus on food security and small/mid-scale food producer economic viability. In the project's final two years project staff sought to institutionalize their work within Cooperative Extension and the network of Small Business Center counselors housed in community colleges across the state. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The academic/educational component of the project engaged MBA and undergraduate business students (26 over the life of the project) for semester and year-long projects with partner businesses to address food supply chain and business process needs, and a summer Local Food Supply Chain Apprenticeship program engaged undergraduates from across the U.S. to work with partner businesses across the local food supply chain (50 apprentices mentored by 16 project partners over the life of the project). Additional training opportunities offered by the project for food producers and extension agents are listed in the above section. To create a supportive business and policy climate for local/regional value-chain creation the project hosted 13 webinars for small business counselors and others (900+, not unique); in-person training on agribusiness for Small Business Center directors, with sessions eligible for attendees continuing education credits (202, not unique); and training and tours on small/mid-scale agribusiness as an economic development strategy for local and regional government planners, economic developers, and other officials (144, not unique). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications, guides, and facts sheets; conference and professional association presentations; webinars; the project website (ncgrowingtogether.org); and the monthly newsletter. Informational materials and and webinars remain available on the website of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the life of the grant the project has trained 521 producers in food safety and post-harvest handling techniques and supplemented these trainings witha Wholesale and Retail Product Specification guide for grocery and food service; and videos and fact sheets ontopics including packaging and selling to wholesalers and distributor,financing and business planning. An estimated 732 ranchers, affiliated businesses across the niche meat supply chain, and extension personnel have attended workshops and site visits on the business of selling meat into retail and food service markets.Through the project's work with Small Business Counselors agricultural entrepreneurship courses are being offered in partnership with Cooperative Extension agents across the state. More than 200 business counselors and local government representatives attended the project's agribusiness development convenings held in 2017-2018.The project's grocery partner increased its local purchasing of produce 5-fold over the life of the project, now sources 42% of its produce from local sources during the summer season, and used strategies learned during the project as itinto South Carolina.The project's national produce distribution partnerincreased its local sourcing by 28% for farms located within 100 miles, and 31% for farms located within 500 miles. Overall, its percent of 500- mile purchases as a total of all produce purchases rosefrom approximately 4% in 2015 to nearly 10% in 2017. (2018 sales remained at 2017 levels, largely due to the effect of two hurricanes in NC during 2018).An online local food infrastructure map and downloadable database was created in year 1 of the project andcontinues to be updated by users and actively used by various entities (local governments, non-profits, food-system advocates and consulting companies, online cooperative extension training course). The map is now maintained by GIS/planning staff at one of the state's councils of government.Objective 1.(a) Baselines for the retail grocery model (partner Lowes Foods) and military-base produce distribute (partner Foster-Caviness) were established in year 1. Changes in local sourcing by the grocery model continued to be tracked across the project period, and a published article summarizes the impact on growers and methods to use to increase local sourcing. Project attempts to increase local sourcing for the military model ceased in late 2015 due to constraints inherent in military food service. A published peer-reviewed article summarizes these constraints. In 2015 a new national produce distribution company partnered with the project to increase local purchasing, and over the course of the project increased its sourcing from farms within 100 miles by 28%. (b) In year 1 the project created an online mapped infrastructure database, with data points available for download, subsequently transferring oversight of the map/data to a council of government to maintain beyond the project period. (3) Telephone surveys of registered niche meat producers (600+) were conducted in years 1, 3, and 5 of the project to track growth in the industry and identify capacity to sell into retail and food service markets. Findings have been leveraged to obtain over $300K in additional funds for niche meat supply chain extension projects (4) A survey assessment of the farmstead creamery industry was conducted in year 2 to understand producer needs and capacity to sell into mainstream markets (5) The project commissioned a study of east to west seafood distribution capacity in the state to understand infrastructure needs and the capacity to sell into retail and food service markets.Objective 2:(a) Addressed need for face-to-face networking of farm sellers and mainstream buyers with tours at the grocery retailer and produce wholesaler partners; and by leading grower-buyer networking events--bringing new local and regional retail grocery and food service entities into regular attendance at these, and by fostering more local grower-buyer events with a published guide (for cooperative extension agents and others) to run these events in their local communities. (b) During the project term the grocery retailer met with 200+ local vendors and purchased from 100+ of these.The produce wholesale partner onboarded 32 new small/mid-scale North Carolina farms. Grower-buyer events hosted by the project increasingly attracted larger (regional and national) grocery and food service buyers. (c) Supply chain and business process needs of the project partners were addressed by undergraduate apprentices and MBA researchers (see entry on training and professional development) (d) Created an array of guides based on project findings to inform future practitioners work in creating collaborative supply chains, including: step-by-step guides on hosting local food shows, grower-buyer events, and in-grocery storetastings/product demonstrations; and on creating a student apprenticeship program; information guides for Small Business Center counselors to locate agricultural business information needed by their clients, as well as curriculum for these counselors to hold "Agripreneurship" short courses in conjunction with cooperative extension; a set of detailed guides for producers on how to sell meat products, milk, eggs, and produce into mainstream retail and wholesale markets, and a produce packaging and specifications guide for growers; a government guide detailing how practitioners and advocates can work productively with local governments to increase support for agriculture as economic development. All materials continue to be available on the Center for Environmental Farming Systems web portal at North Carolina State University. Leveraged produce wholesaler and restaurant food service connections to obtain $220K in funding for a 3-year project focused on reducing on-farm produce waste.Objective 3:(a) Project funding of GAP workshop training, peer-to-peer site visits, and one-on-one support to create food safety plans both increased the number of growers who attained GAP certification, thus making them eligible to sell into mainstream retail and institutional food service markets, and also supported the creation of food safety distance education courses for growers and extension agents, and ultimately the hiring of regional food safety Cooperative Extension specialists. (b) Piloted cross-docking solutions to address distribution challenges; based on this multi-year effort the grocery retailer uses cross-docking to distributed mixed pallets of product from a food hub to numerous stores; and the produce distribution partner uses a remote cross-dock to obtain product from a western NC hub that is beyond its service area.(c) In year 5 the project partnered with a CDFI to offer a cold-storage grant/loan program, with eight farms installing on-farm or mobile cold storage units.(d) In years four through six held six agricultural economic development events across the state which drew 100+ local planning and economic development and other city and county officials, in addition to 200+ growers and residents. Created a set of 11 case studies to demonstrate the positive role of local government in supporting small/scale food and agricultural businesses (e) Offered in-person and web training to Small Business Counselors on the business of agriculture, with combined in-person and virtual attendance exceeding 500.Objective 4: (a) Conducted in-store marketing research at the grocery retail partnerin year 2, and created a guide for retailers on holding effective in-store promotional programs for local produce.Supported the Center for Environmental Farming Systems creation of a marketing kit for underutilized seafood species, and guides for restaurants and consumers on where to find local seafood.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
https://cefs.ncsu.edu/food-system-initiatives/nc-growing-together/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Kure, Horning, and Dunning. Selling Produce to Wholesalers. LF-016. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
Peer reviewed extension publication.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Givens, G. and Dunning, R. Distributor Intermediation in the Farm to Food Service Value Chain . Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, January 16.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170517000746
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Progress 12/15/16 to 12/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:As in previous years, the target audiences for the project work over the past year include primary food producers (farmers, ranchers, fishermen) and smaller-scale food manufacturers seeking to enhance their business viability by connecting to retail grocery and food service market channels; the buyers and other intermediaries that connect producers with consumers such as distributors and food hub entities that complete the supply chain between producer and end consumer; elected local leaders and staff of local and regional government where policies supporting the development of small/mid-scale agricultural businesses are created; staff in the Cooperative Extension Service and Small Business Centers who work with small/mid-scale food producers; food system practitioners and advocates such as those who work in the non-profit sector building local food systems; university students participating in the summer apprenticeship program; and MBA students who serve as supply chain fellows and participate in practicum teams working with project partners. Changes/Problems:As noted last year, the original project narrative foreshadowed possible challenges the project might face. We noted that the various business partners would be bringing different goals to the work that might conflict and stymie progress. Overall, the project has been able to work on shared objectives with project partners--for example, increasing the number of small and mid-scale produce farmers entering into grocery and food service supply chains--despite the fact that the goals of conventional food supply chain partners have been different than those of the project. We have adjusted to the market environment, approaching challenges by: (1) working with business partners to identify win-win, mutually beneficial options--those benefitting small/mid-scale producers and intermediaries and the mainstream business partners--and to act on these (2) adding business partners to provide additional opportunities to engage in mutually beneficial projects, including food hubs, small processors, and cooperative grocery stores and box programs. The project remains true to its focus on food security and small/mid-scale food producer economic viability. To effectively do this, the project in year 5 reached beyond the initial grocery and military partner buyers. We will continue to do this in year 6. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The academic/educational component of the project engages MBA and undergraduate business students (10 in 2017) for semester and year-long projects with partner businesses to address food supply chain and business process needs, and a summer Local Food Supply Chain Apprenticeship program engaged undergraduates from across the U.S. to work with partner businesses across the local food supply chain (16 apprentices mentored by 14 project partners in 2017). To create a supportive business and policy climate for local/regional value-chain creation (attendance in parentheses): eight webinars for small business counselors and other ag business educators (324); training on agribusiness for Small Business Center directors, with sessions eligible for attendees continuing education credits (106); training on small/mid-scale agribusiness as an economic development strategy for local and regional government planners, economic developers, and other officials (215). To build capacity for producers to engage in "mainstream markets" (attendance in parentheses): Five GAPs training workshops which included on-farm instruction (107); three season extension workshops with wholesale buyers attending/presenting (96); one each business planning and collaborative farming workshops (77); business planning workshops specific to niche meats (168) and on-site tours at meat processing facilities and farms (91). To build an overall culture of food safety on farms and support for creation of food safety plans, the project's food safety team trained six On-farm Readiness reviewers, in conjunction with NC Cooperative Extension and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;delivered 14 Produce Safety Rule (PSA) workshops for growers (181); and two PSA train-the-trainer workshops(31). The team also delivered 8 Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance courses for value-added processors (109). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications, guides, and facts sheets; conference and professional association presentations; the project website (ncgrowingtogether.org); and the monthly newsletter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As we described last year, the project's research, extension, and academic activities seek to generate knowledge and educate the next generation of food system leaders while building capacity within businesses along food supply chains, including producers and intermediary enterprises; networking and building relationships between entities along supply chains; and creating a supportive environment for supply chain development. The project's overall approach has been one of action research with collaborating partners to identify opportunities; act upon these by piloting solutions and evaluating the results; and institutionalizing and building upon what works to profitably link small/mid-scale producers to "mainstream" markets. Major areas of work for the final year of the project are: (1) continue to build and integrate the three main categories of project work--building capacity, building relationships, and creating an enabling environment--so that the combined efforts yield greater outcomes than each individually (2) institutionalize and anchor this work in ongoing programs to both ensure that the work continues after the grant-funded activities end, and to engage local and regional actors' support for the work of building food security in their own geographies, and (3) assess, summarize, and communicate the lessons learned over the course of the project for various audiences: producers and intermediaries such as food hubs and small processors; grocery and food service buyers; technical assistance and support organizations including extension and other food system practitioners; and the food system research community. Specific deliverables and objectives planned are: create resources (strategy documents, case studies; monthly webinar series) for regional Councils of Government and municipalities to leverage their planning and development staff in the local/regional agricultural development sector, and engage with these staff to turn plans into action; create resources (agripreneurship curriculum units, information guides) and build local networks around the Small Business Centers at community colleges to build local capacity to support small and mid-scale food and farm business enterprises; continue academic/educational component with business students and the summer apprenticeship program; conduct end-of-project interviews with partner businesses and publish project findings on how institutional entrepreneurs can best engage business stakeholders and motivate the adoption of practices that move value down the supply chain to local and sustainable production, and strategies to institutionalize the continued use of these practices; continue engagement with partners along the value chain, with producer capacity-building throughworkshops, peer-learning and individual technical assistance, and grower-buyer networking.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Statement of Select Impacts to Date: Over the life of the grant the project has trained 482 producers in food safety and post-harvest handling techniques and supplemented these trainings with a Wholesale and Retail Product Specification guide for grocery and food service sales, and videos and fact sheets on pertinent topics including working with wholesalers and distributors, and financing and business planning. An estimated 560 ranchers and affiliated businesses across the niche meat supply chain have attended workshops on the business of selling into retail and food service markets. In 2017 the project won the Outstanding Subject Matter Program by a Team award from the North Carolina Association of Cooperative Extension Specialists. The project's grocery partner has increased its local purchasing of produce 5-fold over the life of the project, and a focus on increasing its purchasing of local value-added products led these sales from local farm/food businesses to increase by 3% in 2016 and another 6% in 2017. Over the past year a national produce distribution project partner increased its local sourcing by 28% for farms located within 100 miles, and 31% for farms located within 500 miles. Overall, its percent of 500-mile purchases as a total of all produce purchases has risen from approximately 4% in 2015 to nearly 10% in 2017. Year 5 accomplishments are listed, below, under each of the four objectives defined in the original project narrative. Objective 1. (a) The grocery baselinewas established in year 1 of the project and percentage change are tracked annually. Military food service has been unable to track local vs. non-local products. Beginning in 2015 the project began work in partnership with a national food service distributor, established a 2015 baseline, and percentage change is tracked annually (b) An online Local Food Supply Chain Infrastructure map and downloadable database was created in year 1 of the project, continues to be updated by users, and was adopted and is now maintained by GIS/planning staff at one of the state's Councils of Government. Objective 2. Producer readiness to sell into wholesale markets has been addressed through capacity-building workshops and skills-based educational materials. (a) In 2017, 107 produce growers attended GAPs workshops; 55 attended post-harvest handling workshops; 119 attended season extension workshops; ten received one-on-one assistance to complete food safety plans; and 309 niche meat producers attended 1-hour to full-day workshops on selling into wholesale markets and operating niche meat businesses; (b) Project staff developed and delivered training and educational materials for agricultural and food system educators, including step-by-step guides for conducting a season extension workshop, and for holding mini-food shows to promote value-added products to buyers; and published an On-Farm Infrastructure Toolkit with information and construction plans for postharvest cooling, washing, and curing and storage infrastructure, and an On-Farm Cold Storage Best Practices webinar to accompany the project's cost-share program for cold-storage; (c) Project staff created educational materials and gave presentations to local and regional government staff including economic development and planning staff and Small Business Center instructors at Community Colleges on ways to support the development of local food value chains (see Objective 3accomplishments, below); (d) The project established a cold storage cost-share program with partner Natural Capital Investment Fund to provide needed cold storage to produce and meat producers;(e) Networking between growers and buyers was executed with two on-site events at partner producer wholesale/distributors in Charlotte and Raleigh (35 growers attending), at the projects annual Grower-Buyer Speed Networking event (60+ growers and buyers), and through three site-tours associated with the summer apprenticeship program; (f) Four business process studies were conducted for partner food/agricultural businesses to assess expansion into additional products and for delivery logistics; (g) A cohort of sixteen undergraduates were placed with 14 partner organizations (including wholesale/distributors, food hubs, a commercial kitchen, and county and regional governments) as part of the summer Local Food Supply Chain Apprenticeship; six MBA and eight business undergraduate students consulted individually and in teams with partner businesses and social enterprises. Objective 3. In 2016/2017 the project worked to build a positive policy and business climate for small/mid-scale farm and food business by creating linkages with and resources for local and regional governmental bodies and the Small Business Center (SBC) network. This work included: (a) Project staff support for Councils of Government, in the form of presentations to the state board of councils and three of the 16 regional councils, these were designed to build interest in local agriculture as an economic development strategy. Eleven written case studies and one video demonstrating the role of local government in supporting small/mid-scale food and agricultural business were developed as resources. A series of three Agricultural Economic Development events drew 98 local planning and economic development and other city and county officials from over 46 local, regional, and state government agencies; (b) Through a partnership with the state's Small Business Center network, which has business counselors located at each of the states 58 community colleges, project staff developed an on-going webinar series for small business counselors covering topics from starting a value-added food business to heirs property and crowdfunding. Scholarships were awarded for 10SBC directors to attend agricultural-related business training; project staff created curriculum units to support SBC "Agripreneurship" courses and developed a how-to guide for business counselors on creating an effective Agripreneurship program; and staff delivered training to small business counselors which satisfied professional Continuing Education Credits. Combined small business center counselor attendance at in-person and virtual educational workshops exceeded 400. Objective 4. (a) The project's grocery partner has increased its local purchasing of produce from farmers 5-fold over the life of the project, and increased its regional distribution center purchasing of produce from the region from 28% to 40% during the summer season. The grocery partner reports its efforts over the past year have been to increase purchasing of local value-added products, which increased 6%, and strengthen its relationships with existing local produce vendors to help them scale-up their production, and move direct-store-delivery growers into warehouse distribution so that their items can reach more stores. Progress has been made in reaching other grocery store chains, with three national and two regional grocery chains sending representatives to the project's annual Grower-Buyer Networking Event in November. Two national-scale produce wholesalers also sent representatives to the event, specifically to meet organic and GAP certified local growers. This was in addition to attending representatives from the project's two regional produce wholesale/distributor partners. There has been no progress in bringing local pastured meats or locally-sourced seafood into the partner grocery supply chain over the past year, but local meats and seafood are moving into area co-op grocery stores; (b) No progress was made related to this objective for the original military partner. The project published a peer-reviewed study on the project's experiences with and recommendations for researchers and advocates working with military bases on local food sourcing.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Dunning, R., Day, John, and Creamer, N. Local Sourcing and the Military: Lessons Learned through a University-Based Initiative to Increase Local Procurement at a US Military Base. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, Sept 18, pp. 1-9, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S174217051700045X
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Givens, G. and Dunning, R. Distributor vs Direct: Farmers, Chefs, and Distributors in the Local Farm to Restaurant Supply Chain. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 48(1): 107-108.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Senani, A., Davis, L, and Dunning, R. 2017. Capacity Allocation of Fresh Produce Using a Portfolio Optimization Model. National Value-Added Agriculture Conference, November 14-16, Little Rock, AK.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
ncgrowingtogether.org
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Progress 12/15/15 to 12/14/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for the project work over the past year include primary food producers (farmers, ranchers, fishermen) and smaller-scale food manufacturers seeking to enhance their business viability by connecting to retail grocery and food service market channels; the buyers and other intermediaries that connect producers with consumers such as distributors and food hub entities that complete the supply chain between producer and end consumer; elected local leaders and staff of local and regional government where policies supporting the development of small/mid-scale agricultural businesses are created; staff in the Cooperative Extension Service and Small Business Centers who work with small/mid-scale food producers; food system practitioners and advocates such as those who work in the non-profit sector building local food systems; university students participating in the summer apprenticeship program; and MBA students who serve as supply chain fellows and participate in practicum teams working with project partners. Changes/Problems:The original project narrative foreshadowed possible challenges the project might face. We noted that the various business partners would be bringing different goals to the work that might conflict and stymie progress. Overall, the project has been able to work on shared objectives with project partners--for example, increasing the number of small and mid-scale produce farmers entering into grocery and food service supply chains--despite the fact that the goals have been different: for the project, the goal is small and mid-scale farm economic viability and food security, for business partners the goal is their own profitability and increased market share compared to rivals. We have found, however, that the assumption made about the strength of grocery and food service business demand for our particular mid-range (not high-end, or low-end) grocer, "local" products is not as strong as was anticipated, particularly for proteins where prices are much higher than commodity alternatives. For the most part, and certainly in the case of the military model, non high-end businesses such as the ones we are working with are not willing to drastically "re-tool their business models," as was assumed in the original narrative, to bring more local products into their supply chains. We have approached this challenge in three ways: (1) we work with business partners to identify win-win, mutually beneficial options--those benefitting small/mid-scale producers and intermediaries and the mainstream business partners--and to act on these (2) we have added business and military base partners to provide additional opportunities to engage in mutually beneficial projects (e.g., the addition of Camp Lejuene as a military partner, and food service distributors FreshPoint and Pate Dawson) and (3) our work to build farmer capacity to succeed, and to build an enabling environment for small/mid-scale agricultural enterprises, has expanded beyond the narrow goal of "scaling-up" small-scale growers to sell into large-scale markets. One example of this has been individual matchmaking to connect fishermen with co-op grocery stores and restaurants, even though these business types do not fit the project's retail grocery and military food service models. This does not mean that cross-scale channels are ignored--for the example of seafood, the project's seafood supply chain development lead continues attempts to create channels between small/mid-scale fishermen and grocery and military food service. What it does mean is that the project remains true to its focus on food security and small/mid-scale food producer economic viability. To effectively do this, the project in year 4 reached beyond the initial grocery and military partner buyers. We will continue to do this in year 5. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For producer capacity-building, the project held the following workshops in Year 4 (attendance in parenthesis): (a) Two Enhancing Farm Profitability Workshops providing business management tools for producers and extension agents (51); (b) six GAPs training workshops which included on-farm instruction (167) (c) two post-harvest handling workshops, one of these on site at a produce wholesaler-distributor, both with participating wholesalers (89); Webinars, one on value-added production (24) and one on delivering direct-to-grocery store (national audience - 258); three season extension workshops (est.80); pastured pork workshop on production and practices for selling into wholesale markets (100); pastured meat multi-day workshop for meat producers, butchers, and processors (68); full-day HAACP workshop for farmstead dairy producers (20); grower-buyer networking event scheduled (est 60 growers+buyers). Facilitated 10+ on-farm meetings between food service buyers and produce growers. To create a supportive business and policy climate for the value-chain creation: (a) two webinars, one on creating a positive local food business climate and policy support, held for economic developers (state audience: 26) and planners (national audience: 475) (b) a plenary session on local food and farming was led by project staff or the states university and community college small business center directors (est. 250) For agricultural educators: held a workshop how to organize and execute a hands-on post-harvest handling workshop for farmers (est 50); held a workshop on how to work with local governments, economic developers, and planners to improve the business climate for small-ag entrepreneurial development (est 50); workshops and presentations for food system advocates, educators, and businesses on strategies for building local food value chains 187). For students: Executed the NCGT Local Food Supply Chains apprenticeship with 12 apprentices placed in 8-week paid positions with project partners. Led and funded 5 MBA and two undergraduate supply chain teams and two supply chain researchers for work on partner business and supply chain operations. Held a Business of Sustainable Food Conference for primarily business students (scheduled for 12/11, foodcon.com). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications, guides, and fact sheets; conference and professional association presentations; the project website (ncgrowingtogether.org); and the monthly newsletter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project's research, extension, and academic activities seek to generate knowledge and educate the next generation of food system leaders while building capacity within businesses along food supply chains, including producers and intermediary enterprises; networking and building relationships between entities along supply chains; and creating a supportive environment for supply chain development. The project's overall approach has been one of action research with collaborating partners to identify opportunities; act upon these by piloting solutions and evaluating the results; and institutionalizing and building upon what works to profitably link small/mid-scale producers to "mainstream" markets. Major areas of work for the next year are: (1) continue to build and integrate the three main categories of project work--building capacity, building relationships, and creating an enabling environment--so that the combined efforts yield greater outcomes than each individually (2) institutionalize and anchor this work in ongoing programs to both ensure that the work continues after the grant-funded activities end, and to engage local and regional actors' support for the work of building food security in their own geographies, and (3) assess, summarize, and communicate the lessons learned over the course of the project for various audiences: producers and intermediaries such as food hubs and small processors; grocery and food service buyers; technical assistance and support organizations including extension and other food system practitioners; and the food system research community. Specific deliverables and objectives planned are: white paper on the structure of the military food system, recommendations for incorporating local sourcing, and the experiences of the project in seeking to enact these; integrating the use of the project's local food infrastructure map into the work of regional councils of government and/or smaller governmental jurisdictions and describe this process for others adoption; continued MBA student business counseling support for food hubs, small processors and culinary incubators, and cooperating wholesale/distributors; creation of an on-farm infrastructure toolkit for produce growers with detailed budgets and construction plans for on-farm post-harvest handling infrastructure; continued workshops, peer-to-peer learning, and publications and fact sheets and how to guides on selling into wholesale markets for producers and agricultural and business educators, including staff of community college small business centers; facilitating peer networking opportunities for food hubs and smaller-scale processors, and for local and regional government economic development staff; applied research to examine the development of value chains between produce growers, a cooperating distributor, and food service; between a rancher co-operative, cooperating processor, and food service; and between soft fruit and a cooperating grocery chain. The results of this research will be distributed through peer-reviewed journals and will include recommendations for food system practitioners on how to support the building of food value chains.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Statement of Select Impacts to Date Over the life of the grant the project has trained 482 producers in food safety and post-harvest handling techniques and supplemented these trainings with a Wholesale and Retail Product Specification guide for grocery and food service sales and videos and fact sheets on pertinent topics including GroupGAPS, local small-grant funding, and social media marketing. An estimated 560 ranchers and affiliated businesses across the niche meat supply chain have attended workshops on the business of selling into retail and food service markets. An estimated 208 attended grower-buyer speed networking and other events to meet with buyers face-to-face. While specific impacts of the grower-buyer interface are difficult to ascertain, the project's grocery partner has increased its local purchasing of produce from farmer direct-to-store 5-fold over the life of the project, and increased its produce purchasing from the region from 28% to 40% during the May to September season. A national food service project partner increased its local sourcing X% between 2015 and 2016. The project made little headway bringing local growers product into the military food supply chain and in the past year began working with a new military partner and new strategies that do not rely on the policy and institutional change at the national level that would be required to change procurement in military dining. This work focuses on supporting links between the base, the local farmers market association, and a local incubator farm. Twelve undergraduate apprentices, 13 supply chain MBA students, two industrial engineers, and six undergraduate supply chain business students worked with project partner companies and organizations during 2016. The project began a new initiative focused on creating a supportive local policy and business environment for the development of local food value chains. The Local Food Economies initiative provides resources, tools, and information for non-agricultural agencies including local governments. Resources include a local government guide to food economies, case studies, and county-level agricultural profiles. Year 4 accomplishments are listed, below, under each of the four objectives defined in the original project narrative. Objective 1. Establish baselines and track changes in local food purchasing for the Grocery and Military food service models and conduct an infrastructure assessment (related to these supply chains). Accomplishments: (a) Grocery baselines were established in Year 1 of the project and are tracked annually. Military food service continues to be unable to track local vs. non-local products. Beginning in 2015 the project began work in partnership with a national food service distributor and we have established a 2015 baseline and are able to track local purchasing over time. (b) An online local food infrastructure map and downloadable database was created in year 1 of the project and this continues to be updated by users and used by various entities (local governments, non-profits, food-system advocates and consulting companies). Objective 2. Address identified supply-chain constraints, research effectiveness of interventions. Accomplishments: (a) Producer readiness to sell into wholesale markets has been addressed through capacity-building workshops and skills-based educational materials. In 2016 167 produce growers attended project GAPs training and 79 attended post-harvest handling workshops; eight received one-on-one assistance to complete food safety plans; 285 niche meat producers attended 2-hour to full-day workshops on selling into wholesale markets and operating niche meat businesses; a farmstead creamery HAACP class was held (est 22). Published educational materials on the project website and as listed elsewhere in this report (b) Training and educational materials for extension agents and other agricultural educators (including food hub staff) delivered in 2016 include step-by-step guides for conducting a post-harvest handling workshop and for training growers on creating their own social media marketing materials (c) Educational materials and presentations to local and regional government staff including economic development and planning staff and Small Business Center instructors at Community College on ways to support the development of local food value chains (d) Research conducted and published/presented on cross-scale value chain development specific to the farm-to-grocery and farm-to-food service supply chain, and costs of operation for food hubs (e) Five feasibility studies were conducted for partner food and agricultural businesses to assess expansion into additional products and market channels (e.g., pastured poultry farm expansion; entrance into institutional market for small-scale produce processor; addition of new product line for shared-use kitchen). See listing elsewhere in this report and on the project website for all of the above. Objective 3. Address long-term structural conditions which limit increasing local foods in NC institutional (food service) markets. (a) The grocery retail partner accepted the use of GroupGAP, which can benefit the farmer groups that use this system to cut auditing costs (b) Other than GroupGAP, the project has been unable to effect change in the retail and food service partner quality standards that would accommodate acceptance of a larger proportion of local product from smaller scale farms. Faced with this the project has supported grower capacity building to meet these quality standards, while also building small/mid-scale farmer capacity to succeed economically in any market channel (c) The project provides a conduit from farmers and food hubs to its grocery and food service partners, facilitating meetings between these business entities and shepherding early exchanges. Objective 4. Increase local food sales at the grocery and military model partners. (a) The project's grocery partner has increased its local purchasing of produce from farmer direct-to-store 5-fold over the life of the project, and increased its regional distribution center purchasing of produce from the region from 28% to 40% during the May to September season. Purchasing of local processed items continues to increase, and project staff facilitated a local vendor day when the grocer opened a new store in South Carolina. Local dairy (milk, ice cream) purchasing and grocery value-added items has doubled over the past year. There has been no progress in bringing local pastured meats or locally-sourced seafood into the grocery supply chain over the past year. In 2016 the grocery chain opened new stores and held local food events to solicit local vendors, including value-added vendors. (b) No progress has been made related to this objective for the original military partner. In 2016 the project established a relationship with another military partner and is working with it to develop the supply chain from the near-base incubator farm into dining. Dining is featuring products from the incubator farm in its fall 2016 base chef competition. The project has a drafted whitepaper on the structure of military food service, recommendations for increasing local sourcing into military bases, and the experiences of the project over the past three years (c) Two new food distribution wholesalers were added as project partners in late 2015 and these are actively seeking to recruit new local vendors. The project is facilitating the work of one of these distributors on a collaborative supply chain model with information-sharing between farmers, chefs, and the distributor. Findings from this research are being presented this year at the Food Distribution Research Conference. For both distributors, the project facilitates connections between individual producers and grower-based distributors (food hubs) create collaborative supply chains.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Rysin, Olya, & Dunning, Rebecca. 2016. Economic Viability of a Food Hub Business: Assessment of Annual Operational Expenses and Revenues. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 6(4): 1-15.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Dunning, Rebecca. Collaboration and Commitment in a Regional Supermarket Supply Chain. Forthcoming in Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.
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Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for the project work over the past year include farmers, ranchers, and fishermen seeking to enhance their business viabilityby connecting to mainstream retail grocery and food service market channels, the buyers and other employees of these businesses who work as intermediaries connecting producers and consumers, and other intermediaries such as distributors and food hub entites that help complete supply chain links between production and the end consumer. Other audiences include service organizations such as the Cooperative Extension Service, whose members participate in trainingsessions to that they may then act as trainers in their service areas, food system practitioners and advocates such as those who work in the non-profit sector to build local food systems, university students participating in the summer apprenticeships program, and MBA students who participated in practicum teams working with project partners. Changes/Problems:In year 3 the project engaged additional national and regional food wholesalers that serve food service customers to enhance the project's ability to investigate and potentially spark cross-scale supply chain links (small and mid-scale producers to larger-scale buyers). There is no direct contact between project staff and staff at the initial military project partner, Fort Bragg, butthe project continues to have the military food supply chain engaged in the project with buyer representatives from the food wholesale companies that are the prime vendors supplying Fort Bragg and other military installations in the state and nationally. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For producercapacity-building:Held three produce post-harvest handling workshops (52 participants) and completed one video on using post-harvest handling techniques to improve product quality, and one video on proper packing for wholesale buyers; held nine GAPs training workshop with total of 126 growers trained.Held 12 workshops related to niche meat and poultryproduction for retail and wholesale markets with estimated 172 attendees; conducted "how to sell to wholesalers" panel events at the annual NC Catch conference (seafood, 35 attendees),and Sustainable Agriculture Conference (45). Conducted business process research to understand viability of on-farm dairy processing and shared findings via an online spreadsheet tool; created extension fact sheets on how to successfully sell through direct-store-delivery eggs, milk, and meat products to grocery stores (one published, two in review) and a local value-added fact sheet to assist small-scale producers ofrefrigerated and shelf-stable mutli-ingredient products in the process from idea to sales to an end buyer.Created user-friendly spreadsheet for conventional dairies to use to estimate costs and returns of adding an on-farm bottling enterprise. Held HAACP workshop for three farmstead creameries in conjunction with a butchery HAACP workshop to understand whether or not the project could sponsor these as combined workshops in Year 4.For producers and buyers networking: Held threegrower-buyer "speed-networking" meetings between 15+ buyers and 20+ growers and created toolkit for others to organize/execute successful grower-buyer events; organized 2 tours for a food service buyer to meet with seafood producers (5 stops); facilitated 4 on-farm meetings between food service buyers and dairy and cultured seafood producers; facilitated small-scale cheese distributors' presentation to food service sales force at a major food wholesaler, which led to setup as a vendor and sales of NC cheeses into this supply chain; facilitated farmer and extension agent participation in annual food show event of the grocery partner wholesale buyer (16). For agricultural educators:Held six Produce Food Safety Agent Training Series sessions to familiarize extension agents with upcoming FSMA rules and with an online course that gives more specifics on food safety for produce growers. Partner NCSU has completed a Distance Education course on food safety for farmers. Organized 3 tours for extension agents to a meat processing facility (15), food hub (13), and partner grocery store (15); Held workshops in conjunction with conferences and classes and webinars for extension educators to learn about addressing food access through local food systems (57), working with supermarkets on extension programming (11), and applying extension resources to build local food systems (119). Created toolkit for ag educators to use to conduct successful grower-buyer speed-networking events. For students:Executed the NCGT Local Food Supply chains apprenticeship with 7 apprentices placed in 8-week paid positions with project partners. Funded 5 MBA supply chain teams for research on partner supply chain operations and one supply chain scholar. Information on the apprenticeship summarized in a document to be used for outreach for summer 2016. Results of supply chain consultancies housed on the Research page of the NCGT website. A graduate student project focused on optimization of market channels from farms to the grocery partner at NCSU's partner university NCA&T, and connections made during this project, led to a collaboration between the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and the Department of Industrial Engineering at NCA&T resulting in funding for a 2-year USDA/NIFA project on building local food supply chains into six minority-serving institutions in NC. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project website: ncgrowingtogether.org contains information on activities, events, and links to all products (as listed in Products section) Monthly newsletter via listserves and posted and archived on theproject website. Webinars, trainings, and networking events as detailed in Opportunities for Training and Professional Development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continued capacity-building workshops for produce, meat, dairy, and seafood/aquaculture producers. Focus is on enhancing quality and lowering cost for increased sales to wholesalers, but with applicability to any market channel. Included in this is business record-keeping support to enable producers to make informed business decisions on market channel selection.Continued networking between producers and buyers, both in one-on-one and group and tour situations. Continue translation of project findings on capacity building and networking with buyers intoextension and ag educator programming materials (fact sheets, powerpoints, enterprise budgets, spreadsheet tools).Conduct six two-day food safety workshops for an estimated 120 producers and conduct 10 on-farm mock audits.Sponsor delivery of a train-the-trainer food safety curriculum to extension agents and to farmers (both on-line programs were developed in Year 3). Build relationships between GAPs certified farmers (or those with the capacity/ willingness to invest in GAPs certification) and likely buyers, both partner-buyers and others. Offer upto twelve apprenticeships through the summer 2016 Local Food Supply Chain apprenticeship, sponsor MBA student teamsand individual scholar supply chain research with partner businesses. A process document on successfully designing and executing a summer apprenticeship program linking students with food supply chain partners will be created and shared. An MBA-focused "The Business of Sustainble Food"conference will be held in December, 2016, in partnership with the NC State U Sustainability Initiative and student Net Impact Chapters NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Duke University. Repeat the 2013 Niche Meat Survey and publish comparative results. Conduct asurvey of small/mid-scale seafood and aquaculture producers to characterize the sector and to understand the needs of these sectors for accessing "mainstream" market channels.Conduct a mid-project assessment of the needs of produce growers and extension personnel to access mainstream markets and assess the effectiveness of project training to date.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Statement of Select Impacts to Date Over the life of the grant the project hastrained 256 farmers in food safety and post-harvest handling techniques and bolstered these trainings with two video guides on post-harvest handling and a Wholesale and Retail Product Specifications guide (over 500 copies distributed to growers and extension educators) containing packing and grading specs by product for retail grocers and produce wholesalers. An estimated 272 ranchers and 100 fishermen and affiliated businesses across the niche meat and seafood supply chains have attended workshops and on-site tours on the business of selling into retail and wholesale markets. An estimated 148 primarily produce growers attended grower-buyer speed networking and other events to meet with buyers face-to-face. While specific impacts at the grower-buyer interface are difficult to ascertain, the projects grocery partner has increased its purchases of local produce 5-fold over the life of the project, is holding "How to Build a Local Program" meetings for store managers in each of its six districts in early 2016, and in 2015 began sourcing local eggs and bottled milk from small/mid-scale producers. The project has made little headway in linking small/mid-scale growers into the military food service supply chain, and thus took the action of expanding project work to additional partnerfood distributers and food service companies in 2015 to enhance grower opportunities for connecting with mainstream markets. Year 3 accomplishments are listed below under each of the four objectives defined in the original project narrative. Objective 1.Establish baselines (which will allow for tracking of progress to the two large institutional outlets over the 5 year grant period) and conduct an infrastructure assessment 1. Project-related baseline assessments effectively collected through collaboration:Grocery partner and food distributor partners working with the military are able to track local purchasing by year. 2. Increase in research-based established points from which to build project activities and assess progress The infrastructure inventory map continues to be maintained by the project (link available from the NCGT website). Production Assessments (volume, location, perceived profitability, needs):A survey and accompanying report were completed for niche dairy production in NC (available on the NCGT website). MBA student supply chain teams analyzed the economics of on-farm bottled milk and yogurt for small/mid-scale (75-150 herd) dairies (project results available on the NCGT website) and another team which assess in-state shrimp processing. Comparative Supply Chains and Market Channel Assessment:Data collection and analysis related to the role of food hubs in the grocery supply chain and the factors that contribute to the creation of collaborative farmer-grocery supply chains is complete and a manuscripthas been submitted for publication. 3. Creation of equal-status network ties and collaborative efforts among project participants.The annual project meeting was held (52) and feedback from partners solicited. A hands-on post-harvest handling workshop (45) included farmers and the produce category manager of Lowes Foods warehouse distribution center and the grocery chain's local food purchasing representative. Grocery warehouse distributor engaged project to bring local growers and Extension educators to network with buyers at the distributors annual food show (16). Monthly NCGT Newsletters disseminated to existing listserve and through the NC Extension Agent listserve. Project partners participating as mentors in the project apprenticeship program held beginning and concluding meetings during the summer of 2015 (35). Project hostedannual meeting and tour for National Meat Processors Association Network (22). Establish Multi-Partner Work Teams for Value Chain Work: Project staffconnected ready producers with project buyers. Feedback from these collaborations informed project guides (see Products section) to assist growers and food systempractitioners seeking to establish cross-scale value chains between small/mid-scale growers and large-scale buyers. Objective 2.Address identified supply-chain constraints and research effectiveness of interventions. 1. Increase in NC producers who are GAPs certified.SEE BELOW ENTRY ON TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2 Increase in NC producers and agricultural educators knowledge of GAPs and institutional market standards as required by Fort Bragg (and its prime vendors) and Lowes Foods. SEE BELOW ENTRY ON TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3.Increase in NC producers who supply foods to Fort Bragg and Lowes Foods Project development work to bring suppliers and grocery and food service buyers included 100+ in person meetings and telephone or email exchanges with producers (produce, seafood, meat, dairy) and buyers. Grocery Model - Lowes Foods and distributor Merchants Distributors, Inc.Grocery wholesale partner hired a local specialist to recruit local growers and works in partnership with the project's grocery liaison. Grocery partner Lowes expanded procurement of local milk and eggs and is seeking to have local offerings for both products in each of its six NC districts. Military Model - Fort Bragg and distributors Foster-Caviness and US Foods.Project staff focused military-related work on the prime vendors for other military installations in NC. Additional distributors engaged:Expanded networking to include other food distributor partners (Sysco, FreshPoint, and Pate-Dawson/Southern Foods) to engage "mainstream" markets for local producers ready to sell into wholesale markets. 4.Establish local food supply chain course at the North Carolina State Poole School of Management. Objective includes work with students as research fellows, interns, and apprentices.SEE BELOW ENTRY ON TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Objective 3. Address long-term structural conditions which limit increasing local foods in NC institutional markets 1. Retailers accept "Whole Farm" GAP certification.Carolina Farm Stewardship Association has neared completion of GAP standards. NCGT facilitates connections between CFSA and our partner wholesalers for discussion of these standards. 2.More NC local food eligible for military and grocery purchase (due to changes in standards or procurement policies).Training and networking efforts with producers and buyers are detailed, above. In addition: Created NCSU/NCA&T working group on food waste, received NCSU funding for initial meetings with interested partners and for a trip to meet with USDA officials in Sept, and will submit a proposal for additional NCSU funding for research with the project grocery and food service partners to identify quality-standard sources of waste and ways to mitigate this waste. Project grocery partner to begin selling off-spec bagged produce on an occasional basis in stores in 2016. Objective 4.Address demand-side mechanisms for increasing local food sales (in the grocery and military settings). 1.Graduate student research on the impact of local food availability and messaging (in the grocery store setting) on perceptions of availability and access to local food, and impact of interventions on produce purchases are complete and manuscripts and the students dissertation are in process.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Dunning R, Bloom D, Creamer, N. 2015 The local food movement, public-private partnerships, and food system resiliency. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 5(4): 661-670.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
De Marco, M; Hopping, B; Watson-Ormond, K; Dunning, R; Creamer, N, & Ammerman, A. Messaging in Grocery Stores to increase local food purchasing: What works?
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Project website: ncgrowingtogether.org
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Rysin, O. & Dunning, R. Economic Viability of a Food Hub Business: Assessment of Annual Operational Expenses and Revenues Required for Self-Sustainability. Submitted to Local Environment.
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Progress 12/15/13 to 12/14/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences for the project work over the past year include farmers, ranchers, and fishermen seeking to build their businesses by connecting to mainstream retail grocery and food service market channels, the buyers and other employees of these businesses who work as intermediaries connecting producers and consumers, and other intermediaries such as distributors and food hub entites that help complete supply chain links between production and the end consumer. Other audiences include service organizations such as the Cooperative Extension Service, whose members participate in training sessions to that they may then act as trainers in their service areas, university students and others who particapted in the Local Food Supply Chain course and as project interns, and local food system advocacy organizations that work to support small/mid-scale farm development. Changes/Problems: Bringing about change at Fort Bragg has proven difficult, with barriers at the national level preventing local change or local opportunities. One way in which we are working on this is to stimulate a national dialog about the benefits and challenges of military bases procuring from local producers. Eva Clayton is crafting an op ed for a major U.S. newspaper on this issue. We hope that this will stimulate new thinking, energy and creative solutions that bring about change. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? WEBINARS: Use of PLU and UPC codes for retailer sales (25 participants); the NC Growing Together project resources for niche meat producers entering retail and wholesale markets, USDA Rural Development and Community Supported Programs, June 2014 (300 participants) FACE TO FACE TRAINING ON SELLING THROUGH RETAIL & WHOLESALE CHANNELS Seven workshops for niche meats (360 total participants); Nine for produce (312 total participants); Eight food safety training workshops (85 total participants); NETWORKING EVENTS AND SITE TOURS Two grower-buyer speed-networking events with growers and multiple buyers (68 particpants); grocery warehouse site visit for food hub partners (16 participants); grocery store site visit for Piedmont Grown growers conference (12 participants); US Foods warehouse site visit for attendees of national Food Hub Conference (46 participants); Produce wholesaler partner site visit for cooperative extension personnel (4 participants); Four peer-to-peer site visits of GAPs certified farms (49 participants); Food Hub Information Exchange (48 participants); Food Hub Extension Training sessions (90 participants); Five presentations to regional and county Cooperative Extension directors and agents to explain role of NCGT in building a local food system (100 participants) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Project website: ncgrowingtogether.org, contains information on activities and links to all products (as listed in Products) Monthly newsletter via listserve and posted on website. Webinars, trainings, and networking events as detailed in Opportunities for Training and Professional Development. Annual meetings held with all partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Fund and facilitate peer learning among cohort of 6-8 NCGT Local Food Supply Chain Interns during Summer 2015; Complete and disseminate findings from local food manufacturing survey; Create dairy and seafood value-added fact sheets; Support Group GAPs pilot at three NC food hubs; Investigate possibility of creating a store-level set of quality standards for direct-store-delivery product more suited to local fresh deliveries; Complete and disseminate report on recommendations to slow farm-land loss around military bases; Complete implementation of store-level interventions to build demand in retail settings, analyze results and disseminate findings; Continue work with Extension Service Family and Consumer Science personnel to build links between their programs and Lowes Foods and Just Save stores to increase awareness of and use of seasonal local foods; Continue attempts to engage with Fort Bragg dining facility personnel; Continued worth with Fort Bragg Military, welfare, and Recreation personnel to provide support for on-base Farmers market; .Hold kickoff meeting with combined US Foods/Sysco group, include implementation of local food tracking system in discussion; assist Lowes Foods to create automatically generated data reporting system to track local produce quantity and product at the individual store level; Collect and analyze local food manufacturing data, strategize with partners on means to increase local proportion of produce in local food manufacturing, create recommendations document and disseminate; Design and field a survey to create a baseline of niche dairy production in NC; Conduct analysis of supply chain relationships between produce vendors, grocery store buyers, and food hub intermediaries, disseminate findings including recommendations on building collaborative relationships; Initiate and complete economic analysis quantifying the value of produce and meat food hub services to farmers, mainstream buyers, and communities; Conduct GAPs trainings and supply one-on-one support to assist farmers in creating food safety plans; Hold 1+ produce quality trainings for food hubs and grocery produce managers; Hold meetings, trainings, and site visits that simultaneously engage producers and buyers; Continue annual strategy meetings with mainstream-buyer partners; Continue support (through training and farmer-buyer networking) for the Fort Bragg area Farmers Network; Continue working to reduce barriers to entry of local foods into the base; Explore entry points at the national level to work on systemic changes in base procurement; Conduct analysis and disseminate findings on the most appropriate legal structures for food hubs; Create a visual roadmap and decision-tree to clarify local food routes into the military procurement system; Analyze the feasibility of a frozen bagged produce operation for food hub partners; Create how-to documents on establishing on-base farmers markets for two audiences—base personnel, and potential farmers market partners;
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Year 2 accomplishments are listed below under each of the four objectives defined in the orginal project narrative as key means to support attainmet of the overall project goal. Objective 1. Establish baselines (which will allow for tracking of progress to the two large institutional outlets over the 5 year grant period) and conduct an infrastructure assessment a. Baselines of local as percent of total for Grocery Model and Military Model procurement: Grocery Model--data tracking enhanced to include farm size and product type; Military Model-- produce distributor (Foster-Caviness) now has ability to report NC local and SC products distinct from other sources; Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, is in the process of adding a “place of origin” data field in its food purchasing system which will permit those ordering food from prime vendors to select for purchase food local to the state. b. Food System Infrastructure Assessment: Online infrastructure map and database completed, web portal permits users to add data points and to download the data files. Data protocol (interview & survey) for food manufacturers to determine current and potential use for local produce is complete and being implemented Sept – Nov 2014. c.Niche Meat Production Assessment (volume, location, perceived profitability, needs) Report on survey findings completed and disseminated online and in 7 presentations to a combined audience of 500+. Findings used to develop trainings for niche meat producers and leveraged to obtain $221K in additional funding for niche meat supply chain work. Survey will be repeated in project year 4 and findings compared to these Year 2 baselines. d. Comparative Supply Chains and Market Channel Assessment Market Channel reports for the current status of local to mainstream partner supply chains complete for produce, meat and seafood producers. e. Project Partner Meetings and Other Means for Group Networking and Information Exchange All-partner meeting held at partner Fort Bragg military base in December 2013 (68 attendees). Site visit and open discussion with partner US Foods and its category managers held for participants of the national Food Hub conference in Raleigh in March 2014 (46). Site visits to Grocery Model warehouse distributor held for food hub partners (16); Site visit to Military Model produce distributor Foster-Caviness held for Extension partners (4); Site visit to Grocery Model store held in conjunction with regional grower meeting in February 2013 (12). Research Symposium for partners held in April 2014 (52). Food Hub Information Exchange for partners and public held in May 2014 (48). Monthly NCGT Newsletters disseminated to existing listserve and through the NC Extension Agent listserve. f. Establish Multi-Partner Work Teams for Value Chain Work Additional partners engaged to work with the project: North Carolina Military Business Center, Fayetteville State University, Cornucopia, Inc. Quarterly meetings for produce and consumer team continued. Meat team and seafood teams meet approximately biannually in conjunction with other. g. Annual Strategy Meetings with Grocery Model and Military Model Partners Annual strategy meetings held with mainstream partners Lowes Foods, Foster-Caviness, and US Foods. Objective 2. Address identified supply-chain constraints and research effectiveness of interventions a. Increase in NC producers who are GAPs certified Conducted four two-day workshops for 85 producers; Conducted 8 one-on-one on-farm mock audits; with project support NC Cooperative Extension is hiring (position advertised in Sept 2014) a new NCSUregional Food Safety Extension Agent to provide food safety training support for Project Years 3-4. b.Increase in NC producers and agricultural educators knowledge of GAPs and institutional market standards as required by Fort Bragg (and its prime vendors) and Lowes Foods. Held two buyer-grower networking meetings with combined attendance of 68; Grocery Model regional distribution center site visit for two food hubs (16); Grocery Model store site visit for regional growers conference (12); Peer to peer site visit of GAPs certified farms (49); Created Produce Packaging and Specifications Guide for produce vendors; Held 7+ trainings/panel-presentations for niche meat producers to understand marketing to grocery buyers (100+); Presented on project goals/objectives to Extension agent audiences in 5 settings (200+); Created online resources for producers to connect with buyers including Warehouse Walkthrough, UPC/PLU guide and associated webinar (ncgrowingtogether.org/for-producers/) c.Increase in NC producers who supply foods to Fort Bragg and Lowes Foods *Grocery Model –Lowes Foods increased by 50% the value of local produce moving through its direct-to-store supply chains, achieved by signing up an additional 21 small and mid-scale producers, ordering a broader array of produce from existing DSD vendors, and instituting a food-hub-to-store summer CSA box program (5 hubs delivering 15 weekly boxes to a total of 35 stores). *Military Model – Worked with Foster-Caviness (FC) buyers to identify particular crops demanded by FC, identified near-base sources of these crops, and worked with these farmers to build food safety plans and achieve GAPs certification. FC plans to purchase fall crops from farmers who are part of an 11-farm Farmer Network in the Fort Bragg area. NCGT staff working with MWR staff resulted in a Fort Bragg farmers market serving area farmers. Department of Defense announces that it will add a geographic origin field to its STORES catalog so that those ordering products can be aware of the source. d. Establish local food supply chain course at the North Carolina State Poole School of Management Course held in Spring 2014 with 18 students. Student team results shared with partners at an April research symposium and online (http://www.ncgrowingtogether.org/research/). Presentation on the course given at the annual Sustainable Agriculture Education Conference, August, 2014. Additional student involvement: 2 MBA Supply Chain Fellows; 2 food hub interns; 2 grocery store interns. e. Re-use of food “waste” for value-added products; additional value added work Fruit and vegetable food manufacturers survey prototype in process with final to be fielded in Sept/Oct 2013. Objective 3. Address long-term structural conditions which limit increasing local foods in NC institutional markets a.Retailers accept “Whole Farm” GAP certification. Project partner Carolina Farm Stewardship Association received funding to investigate the process of implementing Group GAPs systems at three North Carolina food hubs. Project term spans July 2014 – December 2015. b.More NC local food eligible for military and grocery purchase (due to changes in standards or procurement policies) Processes at the grocery store level to work with farmer-vendors were solidified (in documents for vendor-setup) and similar processes established for niche meat and local dairy vendors. Training programs to assist farmers in writing food safety plans and available cost shares to cover the costs of GAPs audits allowed a number of farmers to become certified, and thus eligible to enter Fort Bragg. c.Best value” assessments enhance NC local food advantage Graduate student work concluded on a quantitative analysis of the factors leading to farmland loss. Objective 4. Address demand-side mechanisms for increasing local food sales. a.Increased local food sales and access of low-income groups to local food (research) Baseline customer intercepts fielded for social norms promotion in low-income stores. b.Increased local food demand (research) Local Loyalty research program to understand triggers to consumer demand in retail settings in process
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Demarco, Molly, Beth Hopping, Kemp Watson-Ormond, Ariel Fugate, Justine Williams, Rebecca Dunning, & Rudolf Colloredo-Mansfeld. 2014. "Local Loyalty Project: Can Positioning a Regional Grocery Chain as a Purveyor of Local Foods Increase Customer Loyalty and Local Food Sales." American Public Health Association, November 17, 2014, New Orleans, LA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dunning, Rebecca. Localizing the Food System: Theory and Application for Grocery and Food Service Distribution. Agriculture and Human Values Association Conference, June 18 21, 2014. Burlington, VT.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
ncgrowingtogether.org
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dunning, Rebecca, Amanda McWhirt, Michelle Schroeder-Moreno. 2014. "Sustainable Agriculture and Local Food Supply Chains: Making the Connection through Experiential Learning." Sustainable Agriculture Education Association Conference, August 3-6, 2014. Raleigh, NC.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Fugate, Ariel. 2014. "Tips for Marketing Fresh Produce to Retail Grocers: Understanding PLU and UPC Codes." LF-002. Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Tripp, Trish. 2014. "Wholesale and Retail Product Specifications: guidance and Best Practices for Fresh Produce for Small Farms and Food Hubs." North Carolina Growing Together, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Raleigh, NC.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
NC Growing Together: Connecting Local Foods to Mainstream Markets (project brochure)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Blacklin, Sarah. 2014. "Voluntary Labeling Claims and the Approval Process for Niche Meat Production." LF-003. Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Garrity-Blake, Barbara, and Megan Ware. 2014. "Keep it Moving: North Carolina Seafood Transportation Logistics with a Focus on East to West Routes." Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.
http://www.ncgrowingtogether.org/research/
http://www.ncgrowingtogether.org/research/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Newsome, Jessica. 2014. "Analysis of the NC Seafood Industry: Market Readiness Assessment." Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems. http://www.ncgrowingtogether.org/research/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Newsome, Jessica. 2014. "Analysis of the NC Seafood Industry: National and State Perspectives." Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems.
http://www.ncgrowingtogether.org/research/
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dunning, Bloom, & Creamer. "Working Across Scales and Silos to Build Resiliency in the Food System." Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Forthcoming
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Progress 12/15/12 to 12/14/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The audiences primarily reached by our efforts over the past year are the partner organizations and individuals originally listed in the grant as collaborators along with additional organizations and individuals that joined in the work of the project by becoming affiliated with one of the project advisory teams. Four multi-partner advisory teams meet quarterly to provide guidance for project work on supply chain development: Produce Team, Meat Team, Seafood Team, Dairy Team. A Consumer Team meets quarterly to provide advice on consumer-demand based research and development activities. A Military Procurement Team meets bi-annually to advise project staff on supporting the movement of local food through distributors or directly to Fort Bragg dining facilities and commissaries. Teams are comprised of representatives from each of the categories of partners on the project: mainstream market supply chain partners (e.g., local purchasing representatives from the grocery retailer and produce wholesale distributor), alternative market supply chain partners (e.g., food hubs), service personnel (e.g., Extension, Farm Bureau, NC Seafood Catch Groups), Producers (farmers, ranchers, fishers), advisors (e.g., university experts). In addition to multi-partner advisory meetings project staff also held project“kickoff” meetings with upper management at the offices of each of the mainstream market partners (Lowes Foods, Foster-Caviness, US Foods, Fort Bragg contractors) to confirm short-and long-term goals for joint work between the project and these partners, and to identify specific project partner staff for supply chain development discussions during the grant period. Changes/Problems: The original project narrative and budget provided funds to subsidize GAPs certification (including the cost of the audits) for small and mid-sized producers. This outcome, and associated activities, was identified by the co-PIs during the writing of the original grant as a means by which to qualify small and mid-sized producers, for whom the cost of achieving GAPs certification is often out of reach, for the mainstream market grant partners. However, through the networked interactions between staff, mainstream market buyers, and producers, the buyers for Lowes Foods and Foster-Caviness have relaxed the GAPs certification requirement in lieu of a food safety checklist (contained in the Farmer Guides provided for each entity on the NCCT project website) and a farm visit. Based on the findings from Year 1 that mainstream buyers are most concerned with establishing that basic food safety guidelines are being followed by producers, the project team has formed a Food Safety work group to do the following: (1) Fund partner Carolina Farm Stewardship Association to conduct group workshops that guide farmers currently working with the mainstream market buyers through the writing of a full food safety manual and to conduct mock audits of farms to ready these for GAPs certification, if they so choose (3) Provide peer-to-peer learning opportunities by having farmers visit model GAPs-certified farms (3) Connect farmers to existing resources that provide cost-shares for GAPs audits (4) Build the capacity of Cooperative Extension Agents to deliver group workshops and mock audits by funding a training program designed by NCSU Food Safety scientists and by providing salary release to one Extension Agent per district (five total) for the next two years of the grant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Project staff lead in the design and delivery of a Local Foods track at the annual North Carolina Cooperative Extension conference in November, 2013. This track will include presentations on institutional buying standards and season extension and multiple cropping production practices to better meet the needs of grocery and food service markets. Project staff held gave presentations on the project at two district Extension meetings to inform participants and invite their involvement. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? An all-partner facilitated kickoff meeting was held in December 2012. Quarterly meetings are held for the advisory teams to solicit advice and invovement. A project website (ncgrowingtoghether.org) was released in August 2013. Monthly NCGT Newsletters are distributed to all partners and any members of the public wishing to receive the newsletters. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Our plan of work for Year 2 includes: fine-tuning and institutionalizing the direct-to-store model for grocery, and creating outreach materials for retailers and those working on food system projects to learn from this successful model for their own supply chain development; analyzing warehouse distributor procurement practices in the grocery model to determine the means by which these practices could be altered to allow tracking of local food products and increases in the quantities sourced from small and mid-sized NC producers; distributing the Year 1 mapped database of local food infrastructure to the public and utilizing the data to investigate the potential for use of NC farm seconds in fruit and vegetable processing and to create outreach materials for linking producers and processors; creating an extension document from the niche meat producers survey completed in Year 1 which contains baseline industry statistics and guidance for niche meat producers seeking to enter retail markets and buyers wishing to source directly from producers; tracking the quantities and quality of relationships for the direct-to-store produce and niche meat pilots begun in Year 1 through interviews with these farmer cohorts and with the store managers receiving this product; holding quarterly Supply Chain R&D team and Consumer Team meetings, annual full-partner meetings, and biannual Military Procurement meetings for information exchange, reporting, strategic discussions, and partner networking; build food safety training capacity among NC Cooperative Extension field staff through training and salary release; assisting producers working with partner-buyers to design farm food safety plans and achieve GAPs certification; explore creation of group food safety audits that would effectively lower the auditing costs for growers; creating networking opportunities, including farm and distributor visits, between partner-buyers and producers in all product categories (produce, meat, seafood, dairy); create informational materials to foster learning between partner-buyers and producers; funding apprentices to work with food hubs to enhance hubs effectiveness in linking producers and mainstream markets; involving students in the new local supply chain course on projects with grant partners; working with Fort Bragg and distributor partners on the approach agreed to in meetings in Year 1 to bring more local foods to the base dining facilities and commissaries.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Year 1 accomplishments are listed below under each of the four objectives defined in the original project narrative as key means to support desired outcomes and the overall project goal: Objective 1: Establish baseline information and conduct an infrastructure assessment: Baseline local food purchases (quantities) from which to track increases in the direct-to-store sales supply chain for the grocery model for produce, meat, seafood, and dairy were collected. Baselines for the distributor to retail grocery (Lowes Foods) model and the produce distributor (Foster-Caviness) to military model are based on NC product as a percentage of all distributor procurement for produce In partnership with NC Cooperative Extension (NCCE) project created an online mapped infrastructure database that will be available to the public both through the project website and the forthcoming NCCE Local Foods web portal (anticipated release spring 2014). In partnership with NC Choices project staff constructed and fielded a telephone survey of all registered niche meat producers (600+) in the state. The response rate for those contacts that proved to be current was 50%. The survey was designed to gauge the location and size of niche meat operations and their current market experiences. Project staff working across the four product categories—meat, seafood, produce, and dairy—began interviewing a cohort of producers (farmers/fishers) from which to track their supply chain experiences (both quantitatively through volumes, costs and returns; and qualitatively through tracking of producer perceptions of the supply chain relationships) across the length of the project. “Kickoff” meetings with upper management in each of the mainstream market partners (Lowes Foods, Foster-Caviness, US Foods, Fort Bragg contractors) were held with project staff to confirm short-and long-term goals for joint work between the project and these partners, and to identify specific project partner staff for supply chain development discussions during the grant period. Work teams were established and these were designed to include multiple project participants. Four multi-partner advisory teams meet quarterly to provide guidance for project work on supply chain development: Produce Team, Meat Team, Seafood Team, Dairy Team. A Consumer Team meets quarterly to provide advice on consumer-demand based research and development activities. A Military Procurement Team meets bi-annually to advise project staff on supporting the movement of local food through distributors or directly to Fort Bragg dining facilities and commissaries. Dissimination of learning from the above activities: An all-partner facilitated kickoff meeting was held in December 2012. A project website (ncgrowingtoghether.org) was released in August 2013. Monthly NCGT Newsletters are distributed to all partners and any members of the public wishing to receive the newsletters. Objective 2: Address identified supply chain constraints and research and summarize the effectiveness of interventions with regard to direct and indirect social and economic costs and returns, including system waste. Through the networked interactions between staff, mainstream market buyers, and producers, the buyers for Lowes Foods and Foster-Caviness have relaxed the GAPs certification requirement (which restricted the entrance of small and mid-scale farmers into these markets) in lieu of a food safety checklist (contained in the Farmer Guides provided for each entity on the NCCT project website) and a farm visit. Between May and August three ‘Round the Table Buyer-Grower meetings were held between small and mid-scale produce farmers, partner buyers from Lowes Foods and Foster-Caviness, and project food hub partners. Two farm tours were held subsequent to the meetings for the buyers to visit farms for which owners had attended the grower-buyer meetings. Frank interactions during these meetings have revealed constraints and opportunities to inform subsequent project work. Lowes Foods tripled (from $80,000 to $290,000) the value of local produce moving through its direct-to-store supply chains, achieved by signing up an additional 30 small and mid-scale producers. During the first project year Lowes Foods leadership have become willing to expand local sourcing from produce to other items,starting with trials to select stores. In September 2013, four Lowes Foods Stores will pilot direct-to-store niche pork products. One of the vendors is a meat food hub serving 40 niche meat producers in NC, the other is a mid-sized pork producer who sells both unprocessed cuts and value-added products. The four Supply Chain R&D Teams (produce, meat, seafood, dairy) are the means by which project partners are informed of research and extension activities and by which project staff access the knowledge and expertise of partners. “Kickoffs” for each of these teams were held during April and May of the first project year, with subsequent quarterly meetings of each team. Based on these meetings, strategies appropriate to the unique supply chain characteristics associated with each product category were identified. Foster-Caviness has doubled the size of its vermicomposting operation, begun selling worm casings, and will present the results of its work at the 14th Annual Vermiculture Conference in Raleigh, NC, in November 2013. Rhonda Sherman, also presented her work with Foster-Caviness at the 27th annual BioCycle Conference in April 2013. Objective 3. Address long-term structural conditions which limit increasing local foods in NC institutional markets Increases in sales of local foods occurred via the direct-to-store grocery supply chain channel due to progress in creating a process by which store managers can directly connect to farmer-vendors. The number of new small and mid-sized farmer-vendors and product value increased three-fold (from $80,000 to $290,000) between 2012 and 2013 .Procurement standards changed indirectly for this product because store managers are more lenient in accepting a wider range of sizes than the grocery’s distribution center. More small and mid-sized vendors became vendors to Foster-Caviness with the company’s relaxation of strict GAPs certification standards. However, produce destined for Fort Bragg still requires GAPs certification. Objective 4. Address demand-side mechanisms for increasing local food sales. For the grocery model, project staff and the Consumer Team designed a research program to investigate consumer demand. The Consumer Team in Year 1 worked collaboratively with our retail partner Lowes Foods to devise two studies that serve both the goals of the project and interests of the partner. Between May and September a team of graduate student researchers and project staff conducted a literature review of local food marketing efforts, and developed and implemented surveys in six Lowes Foods Stores to evaluate the stores practice of “Local Celebration Days” which feature local produce and “meet the farmer” opportunities. The output of this activity is an assessment of the success of these events based on customer surveys and researcher observations across stores. This assessment will be provided to Lowes and, in a generalized form (without store names) to the public on the NCGT website. In addition to the above short-term evaluation activity and pending report, the team designed a “Local Loyalty” research program to be conducted in years 2 – 4. The objective of the research is to identify efficacious strategies for marketing local produce in chain groceries. For the military model, project staff worked collaboratively with Fort Bragg dining staff to define objectives upon which to focus efforts over the next year that would lead to procurement changes at Fort Bragg to bring more local food on base in the dining facilities and commisaries.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
ncgrowingtogether.org
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Sherman, Rhonda. 2013. "Southeast Food Distributor Initiates On-Site Vermicomposting." Biocycle West Coast Conference. April 8-11, 2013, San Diego, CA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Dunning, Rebecca. 2013. "Mainstream Retail Grocers and Food Service Distributors as Active Participants in (Re)-Building Local Food Supply Chains."" Yale Food Symposium. October 18-19, 2013, New Haven, CT.
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