Farm to School & Farm to Fork

EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems (EMFS) is a three-year project focused on bringing expanded opportunities & capacity to food and farm businesses across the southwestern NC region.

Programs focus on the seven counties of Western North Carolina (Jackson, Macon, Haywood, Swain, Cherokee, Clay, and Graham) and is based at the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cooperative Extension Office in Cherokee through a partnership between the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cooperative Extension.

Apply for the first cycle of the Apprenticeship program; applications open on November 1, 2019. [There will be two additional cycles in the future, dates TBD]
Apprenticeship Program FAQ for Students

Apprentices must be enrolled in one of the following educational institutions or be a graduate within 1 year:

Western Carolina University;
Haywood Community College;
Southwestern Community College; or
Tri-County Community College.

Students originally from the area and enrolled in other colleges or universities who are returning to the region for school breaks are also eligible. Apprenticeship terms are 8-week or 16-week positions with an average of 20 hours per work week. Students must be 18 years of age or older in order to participate.

Accepting Mountain Food & Farm Apprentice Applications (Open Date: October 1, 2019)

Farmers' Market info and more for North Carolinians

Why race?
Although many communities suffer from food system disparities, data shows that communities of color suffer disproportionately. For example, of the 12.3% of American households that were food insecure in 2016, rates of food insecurity were substantially higher for Black- (22.5%) and Hispanic-headed (18.5%) households than for White-headed households (9.3%).*

The effect of food insecurity on communities of color is magnified, making the issue not exclusively about race, but inherently racialized. Racial inequity is perpetuated by institutional and structural systems that have long been in place and are normalized to the extent of being nearly invisible. Learning to unpack systemic racism leads to work which can help examine all forms of marginalization and undo food system inequities to the benefit of all.

The FYI Youth are a collective of youth representatives (high school, continuing GED and recent grads) and their youth organizers from groups across the state who are already working towards some aspect of food justice in their own communities. FYI youth envision and support the advancement of a just food system.

Food Youth Initiative works with the belief and knowledge that youth are already doing amazing work; they are not only future leaders but current change-makers. The FYI network is designed to build relationships across organizations that are already doing food justice organizing work in their own communities across North Carolina.

Agroecology at its foundation is multidisciplinary and holistic, integrating ecology with agriculture for the development of sustainable agricultural practices and systems. Through systems-level understanding, agroecologists are able to develop sustainable solutions to local and global agricultural and food system challenges.

NC State Extension is the largest outreach program at NC State University. Based in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, we reach millions of North Carolina citizens each year through local centers in the state's 100 counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.