Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's mission is to promote sustainable agriculture in the Carolinas by inspiring, educating and organizing farmers and consumers. Our events include Farm&Garden Tours, On-Farm Dinners and our annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference. CFSA envisions a regional food system that is good for the farmer, the consumer and the land.

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A Germ of an Idea for Wheat
This month the Pittsboro-based Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, backed by $139,000 from the state Tobacco Trust and a New Mexico tobacco maker, started a two-year undertaking to create a wheat market and build a small flour mill. If they succeed, North Carolina's farmers will have a new cash crop and local bakeries will be less dependent on Midwestern wheat supplies.

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North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project Gears Up
This CFSA initiative aims to assist the growing and processing of N.C.-grown organic hard wheat for use in local bakeries. The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission and Sante Fe Natural Tobacco Company have awarded CFSA grant funds to work with tobacco (and other) growers to rotate organic tobacco crops with never-before-grown hard wheat here in North Carolina. The project will work with 20 farms and 20 bakeries to create a market that will support a local mill. Bakeries currently rely mostly on wheat produced in the Midwest. Read this article from the News & Observer for more.

USDA Issues its Access to Pasture Rule
After a very, very long wait, USDA has finally issued a proposed amendment to the National Organic Program Standards clarifying the access to pasture rule for organic livestock. The new proposed rule addresses in great detail the livestock living conditions, feed requirements and pasture practice standards to be followed by certified organic livestock producers. The public comment period for the new rules ends December 23, 2008. Please go to http://www.regulations.gov/ and reference Docket AMS-TM-06-0198; TM-05-14.