Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

09/01/2026

Happy September! 🍂 Hope to see y'all at these upcoming CFSA workshops, webinars, and meet-ups. All event details and registration: https://carolinafarmstewards.org/events/

TODAY: Virtual Farmer Meet-Up: Organic Input Directory & Pest Control Guide
Sept 1 | 12-1pm | Virtual | FREE

Organic Pro Forma Budgets: Financial Forecasting
Sept 8 | 12-1:30pm | Virtual | FREE

Reading the Farm: Identifying Resource Concerns & Building Conservation Solutions
Sept 9 | 8:30-11:30am | Concord, NC | FREE

Know Your Cost to Sell Webinar
Sept 10 | 12-1:30pm | Virtual | FREE

Farmers Food Safety Plan Training
Sept 17 | 10am-2pm | Delco, NC | FREE

Virtual Farmer Meet-Up: Applying to NRCS Programs
Oct 6 | 12-1pm | Virtual | FREE

2026 Sustainable Agriculture Conference
Oct 30 - Nov 1 | Winston-Salem, NC

08/27/2026

Thanks to Jack Johnson and team for having the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association as a featured nonprofit in the All At Once village at his August 22nd Raleigh, NC concert! 🎵 CFSA Soil Conservationist Amelia and Farm & Faith Community Organizer Emily had a blast introducing our local food systems and sustainable agriculture initiatives to concert attendees. Jack himself even stopped by to say hello and sample a delicious NC-grown peach, courtesy of Feast Down East! 🍑

Learn more about the All At Once Jack Johnson social action network, which connects sustainability, conservation, and food systems nonprofits with people who want to support sustainable solutions in their communities: allatonce.org

Make a donation to CFSA: carolinafarmstewards.org/donate

08/19/2026

Food safety certifications, like Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), can unlock new market channels and growth opportunities for your farm. CFSA's technical service providers know food safety certification programs inside and out, and can help you tackle the planning and audit preparation processes with clarity and confidence (and a nifty supply kit like this one)! 🧽🧰

Applications for CFSA's Farm Food Safety Technical Assistance Program are accepted year-round, and now is a great time to apply: carolinafarmstewards.org/farm-food-safety

Feedback from CFSA Food Safety Technical Assistance recipients 😊:

✳️ "Your organization was a huge help for our GAP certification. You provided us guidance for our GAP Plan."

✳️ "Thanks for the tremendous help with establishing a food safety plan."

✳️ "I love this program and have recommended it to many landowners. Without CFSA we wouldn’t have ever gotten our GAP certification."

✳️ "From the first drafting of the [food safety] plan all the way to completing the first audit...if it was not for the assistance and the help, I don't think we would have been ready; we wouldn't have been as successful."

✳️ "[GAP certification] opened a market door that we now have."

✳️ "We obtained GAP certification, sold to new markets, and increased profitability."

08/14/2026

Interested in organic certification for your farm, but worried about the time and investment required to complete the certification process? Read CFSA's new Field Notes on Growing Organic guide to hear directly from fellow farmers like Ben about their experience navigating certification: how it works, what it costs, and why it's worth it. 🥬💡

The barriers farmers face when considering organic certification -- concerns over administrative paperwork, price and yield risk during the wait, and access to organic markets -- are real, but less intimidating to navigate with the expertise and insight of established organic growers on your side.

🔗 Read the guide: carolinafarmstewards.org/resources/field-notes-on-growing-organic

🔗 Sign up for CFSA's Organic Production Technical Assistance program: carolinafarmstewards.org/organic-production

The development of this resource was supported through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).

08/06/2026

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: public registration for CFSA’s 2026 Sustainable Agriculture Conference is open now!

🔗 https://cvent.me/d75Nvo

This year's conference, scheduled for October 30th - November 1st at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, will be packed with inspiring workshops, engaging networking opportunities, an expansive trade show, a festive social reception, interactive farm tours, and more. 🏵️🍂 Whether you’re new to CFSA’s community or a longtime friend, there’s no better place to connect with our work — and with the local food and farming movement — than at the Sustainable Agriculture Conference!

Save big by purchasing your conference ticket during our Early Bird Sale, available only through the end of August! Scholarship applications, work exchange sign-ups, and single-day passes are also open now. See you this fall!

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🌼 The 2026 featured Sustainable Agriculture Conference art piece, "A World Beneath the Dandelions," is courtesy of Kaitlin Thomas, illustrator and designer based in Charlotte, NC.

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's Sustainable Agriculture Conference is a unique, authentic professional development event bringing together small-scale farmers, backyard gardeners and homesteaders, locavores, food systems changemakers, educators, and community leaders from across the regi...

08/03/2026

Happy August, CFSA community. We’ve passed the halfway point of the year! 🏵️ Hope to see y'all at these upcoming workshops, webinars, and meet-ups. Plus, don't forget about CFSA's other offerings for farms and food systems organizations, including our Technical Assistance Programs and Resource Center: we're standing by to help lighten the load and work toward your goals, this season and always. All links in bio.

🌼 Upcoming Events:

Virtual Farmer Meet-Up: Organic W**d Management
August 4 | 12-1pm | Virtual | FREE

How to Become an NRCS Technical Service Provider, Part 2: Natural Resource Assessment & Sample Plan Development
August 5 | 4-5pm | Virtual | FREE

GAP Audit Preparation Webinar Series
Aug 10, 11, 13, 18, 20 | 4:30-6:30pm | Virtual | FREE

Virtual Farmer Meet-Up: Organic Input Directory and Organic Pest Control Guide
September 1 | 12-1pm | Virtual | FREE

Farmers Food Safety Plan Training
September 17 | 10am-12pm | Delco, NC | FREE

2026 Sustainable Agriculture Conference
Oct 30 - Nov 1 | Winston-Salem, NC

07/29/2026

National outbreaks of food-borne illness serve as an urgent reminder of the critical importance of localized supply chains, organic agriculture, and food safety education and regulations to building strong, resilient food systems.

💡 Farm food safety resources for farmers:

➡️ FDA fact sheet on Cyclosporiasis and Cyclospora cayetanensis: https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborne-pathogens/cyclosporiasis-and-fresh-produce

➡️ CFSA's Food Safety Technical Assistance Program: https://carolinafarmstewards.org/farm-food-safety/

➡️ CFSA's Organic Production Technical Assistance Program: https://carolinafarmstewards.org/organic-production/

➡️ CFSA Farm Resource Center: https://carolinafarmstewards.org/resources/

07/28/2026

Show your organization's support for farmers and sustainable agriculture, reach hundreds of growers and food systems leaders, and elevate your brand by sponsoring and exhibiting at the 2026 Sustainable Agriculture Conference!

Opportunities to sponsor, participate in our trade show, and advertise in our conference program are open now: https://bit.ly/cfsa-2026-sac-sponsor-exhibit.

CFSA extends our gratitude to the dedicated sponsors and exhibitors who have already joined this year's line-up:

⭐ Sponsors:
Barnes Berry Trust
Cedar Grove Law
Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS)
Country Farm & Home
Earth Tools
Farm Credit Associations of NC
Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT)
Good Agriculture
High Mowing Organic Seeds
Hipcamp
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Rimol Greenhouse Systems
Rodale Institute

✨ Exhibitors:
Basket Case Farms
Center for Environmental Farming Systems
Certified Naturally Grown
Country Farm & Home
Cuentos y Cafe Bookstore
Davidson County Local Food Network
Dirtcraft Living Soils
Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) South
Good Agriculture
High Mowing Seeds
Hipcamp
Johnny's Selected Seeds
NC A&T State Cooperative Extension
NC Department of Agriculture
Quality Certification Services
Rimol Greenhouses
Rodale Institute, USDA Advancing Markets for Producers Initiative
Rooted in Tech
Seven Springs Farm Supply Co.
The Forest Farmacy
Tangaza . io

‼️ Pssstt: the Member Pre-Sale for conference tickets closes this Friday, July 31st! CFSA Members, buy your tickets this week to enjoy our lowest prices before general registration opens on August 1st -- or if you're not yet a member, join now and you'll instantly gain access to the Pre-Sale!

07/21/2026

Guesstimate no more! Determining how much labor, time, and equipment is needed to sell through different market channels is important for farm budgeting and strategic decision-making, and CFSA's new "Know Your Cost to Sell" resource is designed to help you make those calculations easily and accurately. 💡

Read market channel selection case studies, review formulas, learn key definitions, and download the budget workbook on our website:
🔗 carolinafarmstewards.org/resources/know-your-cost-to-sell