The purpose of the Mecklenburg Friends of Agriculture program is to build a network of businesses, institutions and individuals that support the local food economy in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.
Facebook        Pinterest
Join the Mecklenburg Friends of Agriculture! Membership has it privileges.    
Mecklenburg County joins
Piedmont Farm School
The Southern Piedmont Farm School is a 7 month educational program that trains beginning and transitioning farmers with a strong commitment to operate successful small-scale sustainable farms. The school offers seven business planning seminars, which will give farmers the tools to create a viable business plan.
For more information
click here. 
2014 UPPER PEE DEE

FARM & FOOD FESTIVAL

Register by October 1 and get a discount for the Upper Pee Dee Farm and Food Fest! at the renowned Lucky Clays Farm, on Saturday, November 8.

  • Workshops with expert panelists from around NC
  • Local food prepared by ROOTS
  • Featured speakers, Christy Shi and Debbie Hamrick, "Local Food Is Here to Stay"
For more information visit: http://upffc.org/?page_id=29
Meeting Reminder
"Discovering the Value of Voluntary Agricultural Districts" 
TOMORROW, September 16, 2014 at 12 noon -


1pm

The purpose of the Agricultural 
District 
Program is to encourage the 
preservation and protection of farmland from
non-farm development. This is in recognition of the importance of agriculture to the economic and social well being of North Carolina. 

In Chapter 106, Article 61 of the North Carolina General Statutes, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized counties to undertake a series of programs to encourage the preservation of farmland. Join us as our guest speaker, Dennis Testerman, Conservation Specialist with Cabarrus County, shares information about Voluntary Agricultural Districts (VAD), their importance and their success stories. 
Meeting Information
Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Mecklenburg Cooperative Extension Service
Training Facility
1418 Armory Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28204
704.336.2082
.
 About Our Speaker:
   Dennis E. Testerman, NCCEE
   Manager/Sr. Resource Conservation        
   Specialist, Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation        District
.      

Dennis Testerman is a Manager and Senior Resource Conservation Specialist with Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District. In his position he provides leadership to the district board and staff for conservation initiatives, as well as assisting land users with planning and installation of resource conservation systems. His experience positions him to advise government and nonprofit agencies on conservation and to assist with coordinate of watershed protection and restoration initiatives.  Dennis coordinates countywide open space protection strategies and provides environmental education opportunities and programs for students and community groups. In addition to his experience at Cabarrus County, he has also served as an agriculturist in Pakistan and Nigeria. 


Dennis and his wife Paula make their home outside Concord, where they experiment with downwardly-mobile living.  He is also land steward of a cathedral-like old-growth forest and an heirloom apple orchard on his family's 200+ year old Appalachian mountain farm in East Tennessee.  He is the first generation in my family to be born off this farm since 1789.  This farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one just a few of state-recognized Pioneer Farms that predate Tennessee statehood.