The Farmer Award
Jeremiah Jones, Grassroot Pork Co., Beulaville NC

Jeremiah Jones’ family farm Grassroots Pork Co. in Beulaville, North Carolina is a pasture-based hog farm that operates a sustainable, humane operation. Over the past two decades industry consolidation and lack of markets eliminated most of the outdoor, pasture-raised production of pork in North Carolina. Unwilling to give up his passion for raising his pigs outdoors, Jeremiah got creative. He, along with the few remaining pasture-based producers in the state formed the North Carolina Natural Hog Growers Association, a marketing cooperative to develop and enhance direct market sales of their premium pork. As president of the NCNHG A, he has led the organization in developing their own niche markets and in the creations of best-practice standards, including a requirement that participating farmers are Animal Welfare Approved (AWA). Thanks to the collaborative model of NCNHGA and the hard work of Jeremiah Jones, North Carolina hog farmers have been able to remain profitable while continuing to practice sustainable and humane agriculture.
www.ncchoices.com

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The Good Food for Health Award
Recipe for Success Foundation, Houston TX, Gracie Cavnar, Founder

Houston-based Recipe for Success Foundation is the brainchild of Gracie Cavnar who spent ten years of research into the child obesity epidemic before launching her foundation. She realized that the only path to success meant making healthy food fun and appealing to kids – way more fun than the “bad stuff”. Using her personal finances to translate her research into action, Gracie began to change the way children understand, appreciate, and enjoy their food. Her plan: to introduce children to their food from seed to plate with an extra special ingredient – sending Houston’s top chefs into the classroom to ignite excitement about real food. AND IT WORKED! In its fifth year, schools and districts from coast to coast, impressed with her results, have contacted the foundation to create Recipe for Success programs in their communities. Gracie and her team are now in the process of taking their proven Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education™ program national; in fact, the Recipe for Success program is so successful and unique that Gracie was asked to serve as an advisor to the First Lady’s task force for “Let’s Move,” a call to action to eliminate childhood obesity.
www.recipe4success.org

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The Award for Connecting Communities, Farmers and Food
Massachusetts Farm to School Project, Boston & Amherst MA, Kelly Erwin, Director

Founder Kelly Erwin launched the Massachusetts Farm to School Project in 2004, but it was her previous 18 years as a local foods activist and agricultural economic development advocate that has allowed the program to be so successful. Kelly began her involvement as a passionate supporter of sustainable agriculture when she incorporated and acted as Chairman for the Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture [CISA] in western Massachusetts. Ten years later, the “Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown” campaign she launched continues to profitably connect consumers with local farms. While working as a marketing specialist with the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources, Kelly became interested in the possibility of connecting farms with schools to provide healthier food for children and to further strengthen the regional food system. When budget cuts eliminated both her position and the pilot program she was developing, Kelly decided to push forward on her own. She launched the Project in 2004 acting as a synergistic networker to connect stakeholders from the ag community, the school districts’ food programs and government, and more recently the health care community, leading them in a collaborative positive movement for change. The success of the program speaks for itself — a recently completed survey found that during the 09-10 school year, 94 farms sold directly to 192 school districts serving 522,000 children, 54 colleges, and 23 private schools.
http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/

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The Wave of the Future Award
The Carrot Project, Somerville MA, Dorothy Suput, Founder & Executive Director

The importance of the small and mid-size farmer to the health of a sustainable agricultural system in the United States is well documented. But it is exactly these farmers who have difficulty gaining access to the capital that is integral to their success. The Carrot Project was created to find innovative ways for small and mid-size farms in the Northeast to get the money they need to operate in the short and long-term. It creates, tests and operates financing programs that support profitable, sustainable farm businesses who are unable to find financing by partnering with community-based lenders, socially responsible lenders, farm support organizations. It addresses critical this critical issue with “out of the box” solutions, working on the ground with farmers, then shares their work and experiences with others. The Carrot Projects notable successes include:
• The establishment of the first revolving loan fund from $150,000 in donations and investments for microloans of up to $15,000 for projects that improve small farmers’ operations as well as meets emergency needs;
• Piloting an educational workshop to assist farmers with making decisions about applying for credit and to learn about its microloan fund;
• Produced a brochure/white paper? That provides insights into program setup and implementation of from the microloan fund.
www.thecarrotproject.org

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