Orange County food project seeks resident input

The local food movement in Orange County just got a $30,000 boost.

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project awarded the Orange County Cooperative Extension the grant with the purpose of implementing a deserving local food project.

Local consumers can influence how the grant money is spent by participating in an online survey at orangecountyfarms.org.

The survey allows participants to rate the impact of different projects on availability and access to local food in the Piedmont region.

So far more than 200 people have taken the survey, said Noah Ranells, the agricultural economic development coordinator and an author of the grant.

“The results of the survey will inform the decision a great deal,” he said.

Possible projects include the creation of a regional food label for locally grown food or the development of infrastructure for local food distribution — a “farm-to-fork” system.

Cathy Jones, a farmer and member of the steering committee formed for the project, said she saw the survey as a good opportunity to determine what project the community thinks the grant should be put toward.

Jones and her husband, Mike Perry, own Perry-winkle Farm, an organic vegetable, flower and poultry farm.

“We can think about how we as a community can raise people’s awareness of the possibility of shopping locally and eating seasonally,” Jones said of the grant.

Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, a member of the steering committee and an associate professor at UNC, said there is increasing community awareness of the health and economic benefits of eating local.

He said there has been growth in the number of small farms producing food for urban markets in the state’s central counties.

“Lots of consumers are interested in buying locally,” he said. “The problem is connecting them.”

Although Colloredo-Mansfeld said that the committee members want to make consumers aware of seasonal local options, they realize there are some foods that can’t be grown regionally.

“Most people working on it aren’t advocating that people be fed only by the farmers around them,” he said.



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