Sam DeRosa serves Mecklenburg County as the Local Food Agent, handling a variety of responsibilities such as communications, volunteer support, and local food system support. Since our team spotlighted the Mecklenburg team’s whole office approach to local food earlier this year, we wanted to ask Sam specifically about her work with the new NC 10% Local Food Campaign Agent Handbook. 

The NC 10% Campaign is a collaborative statewide initiative led by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) and N.C. Cooperative Extension and aims to promote locally-grown/caught food, farmers and fishers, and the businesses and people who prepare, distribute, and sell food grown in NC. The NC 10% Campaign focuses on increasing local food procurement in county-based institutions like the Farm to Senior Services program, supporting county Extension offices to produce their own campaign using the agent handbook and resources, and providing resources to support local food outreach for counties, cities, farmers markets, retail stores, and more. 

The agent handbook was designed to assist agents in creating their own local food educational campaign in their county. Aspects of the guide will support agents from start to finish including learning the components and timeline of running a campaign, the roles and responsibilities of partners involved, marketing strategies, data collection, and how to report the impacts of the campaign. 

Q: What was the motivation for doing a local food campaign?

Sam: My motivation is awareness. Charlotte is the largest consumer base in the state. We’re an urban area that doesn’t really produce food. We recently lost our last dairy farm to population sprawl and the population is very disconnected from our food source. Farms seem like something so far away that you visit to get pictures in the pumpkin patch. Yet COVID taught us that the grocery stores aren’t infallible with their ‘just-in-time’ practice of procuring fresh foods, there’s only 2-3 days worth of fresh food available at any given time. We need to support the urban/rural bridge and provide attention to locally produced food.

Q: What types of events and activities were included in your local food campaign? 

Sam: We had 10 events in 6 days! The week of events was called Love Your Local and was a celebration of local food, sustainability, and community connection that highlighted the importance of the local food system with a variety of engaging activities for all ages.

Kicking off on Earth Day earlier this year, a dinner for local farmers offered a chance to educate them about market channel options in the region while enjoying a curated meal of locally sourced ingredients. 

Two hands-on gardening demonstrations taught participants best practices for growing fresh produce at home, including topics related to soil health, planting techniques, and sustainable gardening methods. Two cooking demonstrations took place at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market showcasing how to prepare meals using ingredients highlighted in the gardening demonstrations. Participants gained cooking tips and recipe ideas while taste testing. Three local breweries in the county hosted brewery trivia, testing participants’ knowledge on food sustainability, local agriculture, and craft brewing. Guided farmers market shopping tours were available at the Uptown Farmers Market, where attendees were introduced to local vendors, learned about shopping tips, and gained insight into selecting fresh seasonal produce. 

Last but not least, the event ended with a youth cook-off at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, where young aspiring chefs created dishes using locally sourced ingredients. This friendly competition encouraged children to engage with their food, learn about where it came from, and develop healthy eating habits.

Q: What worked well?

Sam: The Brewery Trivia and the Youth Cook Off were the best attended and most attractive events, bringing a different crowd than the same people we see at all local food events.

Q: What would you do differently next time?

Sam: Earth Day wasn’t a good day to offer the farmers anything other than planting support – asking them to come to a dinner was not as well received or attended as hoped.

Q: Do you have any general resources, tips, or advice for other Local Food Coordinators (LFCs) across the state wanting to host a campaign? 

Sam: Connect with your partners! We worked with VisitNC Farms for prizes for the brewery trivia and we reached out to Unpretentious Palate and U Can Cook to help spread out our marketing efforts. 

Q: How did the local food campaign help create new partnerships or strengthen existing ones? 

Sam: The campaign allowed us to identify breweries and partners for future trivia presentations which we have been working to present more often. The Piedmont Culinary Guild used the event to engage their non-professional members. 

Q: How do you think the local food campaign will shape the future of local foods in Mecklenburg County? 

Sam: I hope that this was the first annual Love Your Local! I’d like to continue this each year and continue to build awareness of local food access and the importance of local food.

The Local Food 10% Campaign Handbook aligns with Extension reporting and provides tips about where to report directly in ERS, as well as other helpful ways to showcase impacts and successes. 

Agents interested in utilizing the free agent handbook and resources like Sam used for her campaign can find more information on the local food website or by reaching out to Robyn Stout at robyn_stout@ncsu.edu. 

**All photos were shared by the Mecklenburg County team.