Case Study: Food System Assessment of North Carolina Food Systems

There are at least two Economic Development Districts (EDDs) or Councils of Government (COGs) in North Carolina that have designated food system planners: Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) and Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments (UCPCOG). These positions were created as the organizations recognized that the issue of food systems was an overarching economic development issue in their regions. These two food system planners participate in a regular quarterly food system call with other planners at North Carolina COGs who have an interest in food and how it connects to planning and economic development.  

Piedmont Triad Regional Food Council 

At Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC), Food Systems Coordinator Jennifer Bedrosian works in the planning department but routinely engages with both community and economic development planning staff at PTRC. Much of her work connects her with community-based organizations and nonprofits, more so than other departments at PTRC do. PTRC helps these community-based organizations and nonprofits build connections with regional and local governments, acts as an administrator for federal grants and a convenor, and helps organizations and communities collaborate on common issues related to food.   PTRC has led or been involved in many statewide food projects as well as those in its region. For example, PTRC was part of the North Carolina Growing Together (NCGT) project, a six-year (2013-2018) USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant-funded project led by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. The overarching goal was to achieve greater food security by enhancing the economic viability of small and mid-scale farms and fishing operations and their communities. The project was highly collaborative and included dozens of partners across the state. A deliverable of this project was creating the NC Local Food Infrastructure Map, a mapped inventory of businesses that serve as intermediary steps in local food supply chains across North Carolina. The map is housed on the PTRC website.  PTRFC works closely with Community Food Strategies, a statewide, collaborative initiative formed in 2012 to help support the growth of food policy councils across North Carolina. Community Food Strategies leveraged the connection to Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina for funding. In 2018, PTRC was awarded a USDA NIFA grant to start up the Piedmont Triad Regional Food Council (PTRFC), develop a website, and undertake marketing around this work.   The Piedmont Triad Regional Food Council formed in 2019, as a council of stakeholders representing a broad array of food system sectors and a balance of rural, urban, socio-economic, cultural, racial, and gender backgrounds from each of the 12 counties in the Piedmont Triad Region. The goals of the food council are to influence policy, promote collaboration, and strengthen food systems.   Throughout 2019-2020, PTRFC worked with Carolina Creative Works to conduct a comprehensive regional food system assessment for the Triad. This work was made possible by a four-year grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. awarded in 2019 to implement a plan that promotes a more inclusive, healthier, and resilient food economy; that grant award funded the food council start-up, regional food assessment, events, and Jennifer’s position as food system coordinator. 

In 2021, the PTRFC completed the multi-year comprehensive data-based regional food systems analysis, centered on building equity for the region.  

Jennifer has worked with a wide variety of partners on a range of food system development projects, in areas such as aging, workforce development, and more.  PTRFC has begun offering feasibility studies for specific food and agriculture projects, like shared-use kitchens and food processing.  PTRC’s Workforce and Economic Development department is currently under contract to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed fruit and vegetable processing facility in the Piedmont Triad. The study will analyze the viability of the processing facility, identify potential issues and make a final recommendation. 

Since the food assessment, the PTRFC has met many of their regional goals with the assistance of regional partners including:  

  • The Piedmont Triad Regional Food Council (PTRFC) with support from the City of Winston-Salem, Urban Food Policy Council hosted an event called, Cultivate Resilience: A Triad Food System Symposium in 2023. Conversations focused on Creating Resilient Food Hubs and Building Equitable Farmer Support. The event celebrated food across the region, shared updated data from the regional food assessment, built awareness of current and upcoming food system projects in the region, and provided input from attendees to inform a future grant proposal. A summary of feedback at the event included needing business support and mentoring, increased job opportunities, food aggregation, building infrastructure, networking and communication between organizations, and access to resources and capital. 
  • The Reidsville Area Foundation reached out with interest in starting a food council in Rockingham County. The PTRC Regional Planning Department was awarded funding to initiate a new project, Food Systems Forward-Rockingham to build collective power in Rockingham County’s food system. PTRC and a PTRFC Rockingham representative are working closely to create a diverse food council, host educational trainings, and provide technical assistance in external funding opportunities. Through a capacity building grant opportunity through the foundation, a PTRFC representative is supporting the foundation in forming a county-wide food council. Jennifer Bedrosian said, “I’m really excited to see local foundations interested in this work. They saw a good investment in [PTRC] us.” 

Mostly, Jennifer is letting the communities drive what is most important to them around food systems — what areas have the most energy.  The PTRC and PTRFC priority is currently the Healthy Food Financing Partnership (HFFI), launching in summer 2024. Submitting this application was a response to food council input, feedback from the food system symposium, and recommendations from the regional food system assessment. 

Healthy Food Financing Partnership 

PTRC applied for the USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) program and was one of 16 groups across the nation awarded. HFFI’s purpose is to support food supply chain resiliency, improve access to healthy foods in underserved areas, create and preserve quality jobs, and revitalize low-income communities. HFFI provides financial and technical assistance to fresh, healthy food retailers and enterprises to overcome the higher costs and initial barriers to entry in underserved areas.  

Piedmont Triad’s HFFI initiative, Growing Food Finance in the Triad, involves implementing a new partnership with two Community Development Finance Institutions: Self-Help Credit Union and Partner Community Capital to provide capacity building around grant writing and financial readiness to fund food enterprises through credit enhancements. Priorities for Piedmont Triad’s initiative will be underserved communities, rural areas, women-owned and BIPOC-owned businesses. An advisory team will be formed to identify borrowers, assess food finance needs, engage partners and manage outreach. PTRFC was awarded $1 million in capacity building funds and $2 million for credit enhancements (interest rate buy-downs rates to make those loans less risky). In 2023, Jennifer was able to offer a Grant Readiness Workshop geared toward helping non-profits, community-based organizations, and local government partners build fundable grant applications and programs. Jennifer plans to offer several more workshops throughout the region and help people build on their food entrepreneurship ideas.  

NC Local Food Infrastructure Map 

The Triad’s food assessment map shows the need – high food insecurity rates – and identifies gaps and opportunities for growth and investment, including food box and food prescription programs, smaller scale infrastructure and cold storage.  

The biggest regional gaps and challenges identified include: 

  • High food insecurity rates 
  • Access to capital 
  • Accessible cold storage 
  • Intermediaries – need to help these enterprises scale up. 
  • Micro infrastructure 
  • Building supply to meet the needs of institutional markets. Connecting a farmer co-op’s offerings with institutional partners. Bringing more farmers into the co-op. Expanding beyond county lines.  
  • Creating rural-urban connections. 
  • Support for financial readiness – grant writing, financial support. How to get a business up and running.  

PTRC, The Conservation Fund, and North Carolina State University submitted a USDA Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) grant to create a robust North Carolina Local Food Infrastructure Map that utilizes a community-based approach to data collection. The proposed project aims to raise awareness about food system infrastructure that can help farmers gain access to markets, address equity issues, and identify opportunities for high-impact investment in distressed communities. 

PTRFC’s overall goal is to use the food assessment map to build connections among different parts of the food system. For example, how can PTRFC help to build connections to ensure enough money is paid to farmers for their fresh produce that goes into the food box/prescription. These programs are meant to support the regional economy, build farmer wealth, and make helpful community connections. Jennifer says, “It is about bringing those values into this type of work. Helping people to understand those connections and building health and wealth for all.”

Photo: Nourish

Tri-COG FEEDS (Food Ecosystem Economic Development) Strategy: Central Pines Regional Council, Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments and Kerr-Tarr Council of Governments  

Three councils of government (COGs) are partnering on food systems work in northern North Carolina: Central Pines Regional Council (formerly Triangle J COG), Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments (UCPCOG), and Kerr-Tar Council of Governments (KTCOG) under the coalition Tri-COG Feeds. The impetus behind this partnership was the understanding that purchasing food locally and keeping wealth local was an opportunity in the greater 17-county region. Specifically, demand for food in the Central Pines region, home to Durham and the growing Research Triangle area, is growing exponentially compared to outlying counties as this region’s population grows.  This initiative, funded by the Economic Development Administration and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, pulled together regional partners including local government partners, COGs, and nongovernmental organizations among other stakeholders. Tri-COG FEEDS Goals were to: 
  • Identify the infrastructure needed to shorten food supply chains 
  • Drive economic development 
  • Enhance resilient practices 
  • Foster equity 
  • Increase rural-urban connectivity in the region.  
Local and regional food systems are more resilient than industrial food systems, because they: 
  • Are typically smaller in scale 
  • Allow for increased biodiversity 
  • Allow for products to be picked at peak ripeness 
  • Are minimally processed and transported shorter distances 
  • Have a commitment to community as well as fair distribution of profits among owners and employees 
  • Have an impact on environmental, social and quality of life attributes.  
Through this process, current local food spending in the region was estimated at $54 million per year. However, the demand for local food spending in the Tri-COG region was estimated at $6.6 billion per year, which demonstrates great opportunities to regionalize value chains and grow local food systems. The potential total economic impact for improving local food systems in the Tri-COG region is estimated at $10.7 billion annually.    The supply side showed that the Tri-COG region held 18% of the farms in North Carolina – 8,331 total farms along with 21% of total farmland (1,801,833 acres), and 14% of total market value of agricultural products. North Carolina ranks second in the nation in potential agricultural lands lost by the year 2040.   Tri-COG is also interested in equity in the food system. Farmers of color were found to make up less than 5% of principal producers and less than 3% of operations by acreage. There are historic, multigenerational structural barriers to ownership for farmers of color. Black farmers have historically been denied the benefits of federal programs, struggling to access loans and other resources to help keep their businesses afloat. Some Black farmers also do not have clear title to their land. Forty percent of land owned by Black farmers is heirs’ property, which is defined as land passed down between generations without a formal will or title.¹ North Carolina also has a lower representation of people of color in business ownership roles than the US overall, including in the food sectors.   There is a particular interest in value chains that prioritize equity, as the COGs learned that most farmers of color in the area cannot compete with larger farmers who have the required agricultural equipment to enter larger markets. Farmers of color have traditionally mistrusted policies that incentivize purchasing from certain producers. Yet, there was demand from a large distributor that wanted more products from farmers of color, leading to new thinking about ways to reach the appropriate scale, allowing farmers of color to compete.    The partnership among the three COGs is a symbiotic relationship allowing for the recognition and leverage of their complementary strengths, while improving rural-urban connectivity. For example, Central Pines holds most of the middle-of-supply-chain establishments and final point-of-sale establishments. Upper Coastal Plain and Kerr-Tar are 46% and 33% farmland, respectively, compared to Central Pines at 23%. Central Pines had $103 billion in FDIC deposits as compared to $6.7 billion and $2.3 billion in Upper Coastal Plain and Kerr-Tar. The number of social establishments in Kerr-Tar are the highest of the three regions.

A mapping project mapped actual assets in the region, including current and aspirational supply chains in the hopes of identifying demand and demand-driven subsectors to enter. Tri-COG used the following process: 

  • Stage 1 was used to understand what’s being produced. how land is being used by what actors, and where the food is going. 
  • Stage 2 was a deeper dive into those actors and understanding what other resources are needed to connect them.  
  • Stage 3 was used to determine how local and county governments can help support the food system.   

EDD’s roles are typically regional planning and coordination. For this initiative, their goals and roles include: 

  1. Increase collaboration between regional partners doing the work and become the connective tissue for the local and regional food sector. 
  2. Inform local and county governments about what’s going on in their regions and what they can do to support food systems. 
  3. Understand and communicate how this work overlaps with land use planning and economic development planning that COGs already do but may not do with a food system lens.  

After the closing convening in summer 2024, after a few years of this work, the three COGs will determine where the intersection is between what local governments can invest in/inform/influence and what people in the food system need and want. Mary Jane Lyonnais, Upper Coastal Plain COG’s food system planner hopes to continue to act as a convenor for the Tri-COG region. Tri-COG will now focus on seeking implementation funding in partnership with a network of organizations across the regions. What was learned was that there is a great deal of interest in food systems work in the entire region. Mary Jane notes, “There is a potential for oversaturation without understanding demand. There’s a need for connective tissue between all the organizations in the food space. Trust building is needed.” 

Lessons Learned:  

  1. Assessing the current state of food systems in the region is an important first step to entering the food systems area. It’s critical to understand what’s already in place and where the gaps are.  
  2. Equity is a key concern in food systems, as there are often historical considerations that have kept producers of color from operating successfully. Building trust is a first step in engaging producers of color.  
  3. EDDs can act as convenors and facilitators of food systems work, initiating key research, building trust among partners, and bringing partners together to strategize about next steps.  

¹ Legal Defense Fund. Black Farmers FAQ. https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/black-farmers-faq/ 

 

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