About
the Program
Growing
For You
is a new, collaborative effort involving a multi-discipline Extension
Team composed of Agriculture and Family & Consumer Science
Agents from six counties consisting of Buncombe, Cleveland,
Lincoln, McDowell,
Polk and Rutherford. This educational program's goal is the development
and maintenance of regional communications to promote the benefits
of the local agriculture industry to the region's consumers.
Growing
For You will encompass four areas that will assist in the farm-to-table
process:
-
Product
Development & Utilization - Networking with local and regional
chefs in the preparation of locally-grown commodities, highlighting
value-added local products, and learning how to prepare fresh
products.
-
Food
Safety - Providing a forum for addressing biotechnology/genetically-engineered
commodities, organics, and pesticide residue issues. Focusing
on safe food handling from farm to home.
-
Agricultural
Focus - Developing grower networks in the sharing of production
techniques: sustainable, organic, and conventional. Looking at
historic & cultural trends of agriculture within the region.
-
Youth
Education - Expanding Agriculture Awareness to children and helping
them understand where their food originates, how long it takes
to produce the foods they eat, and how the raw product is made
into the materials they consume.
The
Extension Team anticipates three major outcomes from the Growing
For You Project:
-
Increased
farm visibility and economic growth of the industry,
-
Improved
consumer food safety practices and increased utilization of locally
grown commodities, and
-
Increased
consumer knowledge of agricultural production techniques.
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