Michelle Schroeder-Moreno

The long-term goal of this project is to ?enhance food security by increasing productivity and profitability for producers and improving intermediate elements of the system to increase access and affordability for consumers,? as described in the RFP. This integrated research, extension, and academic project co-led by NC State University and NC A&T State University through the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) will work with a large grocery chain (Lowes Foods) and a military base (Fort Bragg), and within the existing large-scale wholesale distribution chain through which the vast majority of food travels, to determine the potential for conventional systems to join with emerging food hubs to address localized food system bottlenecks in a way that values sustainability and meets growing demand. We address short-term (e.g., GAPs certification, supply chain development) and long-term (e.g., military contract specifications) constraints, while also testing demand-side interventions to increase purchases of local foods across the socioeconomic spectrum. Research focuses on baseline assessments, economics and management, marketing, food access, and institutional change. Extension integration includes needs assessment, training and support, applied action-based research, consumer education, and resource development. Academic integration includes the development of a new course in the School of Management at NC State focusing on local food systems value chains, and developing value-chain career-ladder opportunities for apprentices, interns and service-learning students. This project will lead to nationally replicable models that have the potential to significantly increase consumer access to local foods.

This proposal aims to strengthen existing partnerships and opportunities to invest in local food infrastructure that creates long-term regional food economic resilience. Increasing federal and state-level resources have provided significant opportunities for short-term local food markets and institutional engagement. However, more sustainable channels of financial and institutional support for food hubs and local food intermediaries are needed to build sustainable opportunities for farmers and communities. With recent engagement and elevated awareness (1), local governments have a great opportunity to learn, engage, and innovate for systems-level solutions that benefit the health and wealth of farmers and their communities. The growing network of food councils that exists across North Carolina can partner with their regional Council of Governments (COGs) to educate local governments, leverage existing funding streams, and advocate for long-term value chain and local food infrastructure investments. This proposal will build capacity and innovation in three multi-county foodsheds in North Carolina, while leaning on a statewide network of partners. Food councils will lead community outreach and advocacy efforts. COGs will provide capacity building, assistance with regional data collection and analysis, and a strong connection to local governments. The Food Hub Network will provide a needs analysis. Resourceful Communities will lead a cross-county economic and value chain impact analysis and potential funding solutions. CEFS provides program management and evaluation for this proposal, a statewide structure to the network of food councils, and coordinates Statewide and Regional Summits where cross-county analyses will be compared regionally and opportunities for action will be galvanized.

Southeastern agricultural systems have been designed around the economic realities of the past several decades. No-till agriculture, with all of its soil conservation benefits, has been widely adopted in the Southeast because it is also a cheaper way to farm. Climate change poses new challenges and opportunities for our farmers that have not been factored into the current economic model. The challenge will come from increasingly erratic weather patterns with drought becoming more frequent and intense. Efforts need to begin now to increase the water holding capacity of our soils if we are to maintain productivity during these periods of drought. The opportunity presented by climate change lies in the positive role that agriculture can play in mitigating the emissions from other industries. Agriculture is one of the few economic sectors that might have a net negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The key to understanding how agriculture will both adapt to climate change and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is to understand how cropping systems impact the carbon and nitrogen cycles. Research by the partners on this proposal suggests that long held assumptions about Southeastern cropping systems on carbon sequestration and N2O emissions are not supported by data from long terms systems trials. No-till was long presumed to be the best system for sequestering carbon. A growing body of literature suggests this is not true, particularly in the warm, humid conditions of the Southeast. No-till soils accumulate limited amounts of C because most of the organic matter inputs are on the surface and subject to rapid decomposition. Another factor preventing carbon accumulation is the relatively low level of organic matter inputs on most no-till farms. Few of these farms use cover crops, animal wastes or other organic matter inputs. Even ones that utilize practices such as cover cropping seldom manage for maximal biomass accumulation. How much carbon could accumulate in systems that explicitly include sequestration as a design goal? What economic incentives would be needed to make those designs a reality? It is critical that we understand how long term additions of complex carbon-based inputs can contribute to C storage in agroecosystems.

The goal of this proposal is to develop a sustainable agriculture beginning farmer registered apprenticeship program that targets veterans. This will be a pilot program implemented in partnership with Lenoir Community College and support from veteran organizations across the state. After the pilot, the program can be expanded across North Carolina with other community colleges and recent graduates

The long-term goal of the grant project, Enhancing Food Security by Cultivating Resilient Food Systems and Communities is to transform existing globally-based food systems within a tri-state, Mid-Atlantic Appalachia region (Virginia-VA, North Carolina-NC, and West Virginia, WV) by creating more resilient food systems that increase community and regional food security which are linked to sustainable practice, place-sensitive production, and the broader well-being of the community, that is, its, economic, social, and environmental health. We will do this by developing, implementing, and evaluating a ?Foodshed Security? strategy that focuses on strengthening regional and local food systems (foodsheds) within the target area. It will include an array of analytical and assessment methods (geographic spatial information (GIS), systems dynamic modeling, decision support systems, and situational analysis); community-based design, implementation, and evaluation; build on existing food systems components with better design, place appropriate practices, innovative tools, polices, and promotions; and develop an interdisciplinary graduate program integrating these approaches, while focus on the grand challenge of global food security. This multifaceted strategy uniquely combines a sustainable food systems modeling approach with a community-based participatory research (CBPR) process to examine existing university (i.e., graduate education), extension, and community-based programs that illustrate ongoing efforts to improve local-regional food system access and affordability, and viability in local/regional food economies. To reach our long-term goal, this Standard Integrated project will address all three functions of theagricultural knowledge system (i.e., research, extension, and education) to meet the overall wellness needs of regional residents through improving their access to, and utilization of, viable localized and regionalized food systems. Under the guiding principles of systems thinking and participatory practice methodology, these integrated functions described in this project, collectively operate to achieve/improve food security, resilient food systems, and community viability in disadvantaged communities inclusive of all residents within the target region. Therefore, we will describe broad objectives for each function followed by specific supporting objectives. Because community food security assessments are measures of vulnerability in the current system, the research function of the project will focus on systems? thinking and modeling frameworks to identify current drivers, processes, linkages, and barriers within the a food system model through CBPR processes which will contribute to effective community foodshed security assessment and intervention tools. The education function will develop graduate curriculum that produce well-trained individuals who can transfer the transdisciplinary knowledge about complex foodshed systems under stress into practice. The extension function will encompasses the role of extension educators in the implementation of community participatory practices in order to conduct, assess, implement, and evaluate the relevance of the community foodshed security programs by connecting stakeholders with the process and the outcomes. Therefore, the four supporting objectives that cross these functions (research, education, extension) include: Research (1) Create a place-based foodshed model for direct application within the targeted region to enhance knowledge of barriers and opportunities for improving community food security, with special emphasis on food accessibility and affordability in disadvantaged communities; Research and Extension (2) Design and implement a participatory-based, regional foodshed situational analysis using the USDA?s (2002) Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit as a foundation; Education and Extension (3) Develop, expand, and implement ?best practices? with education, extension, non-governmental organizations, and disadvantaged community stakeholders using participato