Local Organic Y'All

Check out my new blogpost about wholesale produce distributor FreshPoint. Great things happening there. Lauren Horning is their local coordinator. www.localorganicyall.org/blog

Enjoyed the 21st annual Orange County Ag Summit this week. Heard about Mecklenburg County’s excellent new foodshed study (they spent $100k to do it). Other highlights: Weaver Street Market staff gave a good talk about their local sourcing, emphasizing that farmers need to talk to retailers months before selling in order to plan correctly. I met enthusiastic staff from NC’s pesticide regulators (working on pollinator protection and pesticide drift). CFSA did a good job introducing more farmers to GAPs so they can potentially sell wholesale. And I learned a lot about h**p, a risky but very profitable new local crop. Finally I was impressed that Orange County is spending $500k on rural broadband and has spent $400k on farmer grants (using funds from a 1/4 cent sales tax). Good stuff.

In 2019 Local Organic Y'All hopes to continue to monitor the grocery industry in North Carolina. Quite frankly we like some of the reports we are hearing. Publix recently announced that they would be participating in a Buyer-Grower meet-up. This chain has been lagging in its interest in local organic; this is a hopeful sign that this well-regarded retailer may be moving in a good direction.

Also recently heard from a major wholesaler that some of the bigger grocers are ramping up their requests for local produce. We are planning a visit to this wholesaler in January and will report on what we learn. Stay tuned!