Charlie Jackson of ASAP inducted into WNC Agricultural Hall of Fame

Press release from WNC Communities:

WNC Communities held the 27th Annual Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research & Extension Center in Mills River. Charlie Jackson, the Executive Director and founder of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), was inducted at this year’s luncheon.

This annual event recognizes stewards of our Western North Carolina agribusiness sector and honors the visionaries and leaders of the agriculture industry. At a time when Western North Carolina is seeking new methods of sustainability, WNC Communities is proud to recognize those who have made significant contributions to one of our state’s most important sources of revenue.

For over 20 years, Charlie Jackson has made pioneering contributions to the local food movement in Western North Carolina and has provided regional and state leadership on developing and localizing food systems.

Born in Durham, North Carolina, Charlie earned a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University and a Masters of Arts from the University of Maine. As a struggling farmer in Madison County in the 1990s, Charlie and other farmers saw an opportunity to help reverse the loss of farms in WNC and help farmers transition away from tobacco. He is one of the founding farmers of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), a non-profit serving the Southern Appalachians with a mission to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.
Under Charlie’s leadership, ASAP implements three programs that work to build the local food infrastructure in WNC: the Local Food Campaign that builds viable local markets for local farms, raises awareness about local agriculture and educates consumers about benefits of buying local food; Growing Minds which implements Farm to School, a program that provides support and resources to give children opportunities to learn about local food and farms and the Local Food Research Center, which studies the social, economic and environmental impacts of localizing food systems.

With this systematic approach to building the local food system, Charlie has directed ASAP’s programs to build connections between local agriculture, economic development and health. One program, Appalachian Grown, launched in 2007 and has seen local food sales increase from $17 million the first year to $180 million in 2016. The Business of Farming Conference, held the last 15 years, has provided over a thousand farmers with the opportunity to develop business and marketing skills. The annual ASAP Farm Tour gives thousands of local community members and visitors a way to discover more about Appalachian agricultural heritage and meet farmers on the farms where they grow their food.

Charlie has grown ASAP from a small organization to a model for building local food systems. “Standing at the helm of ASAP, Charlie Jackson positioned the organization for success,” says Ross Young, Madison County Cooperative Extension Director, “He took a small partnership and turned it into a nationally recognized non-profit that has become a primary variable in the success of hundreds of farmers in WNC.”

In addition to Charlie’s significant accomplishments, he is a researcher for the Local Food Research Center and has been researching local food systems for more than a decade. He is co-author of the ground breaking local food and farm assessment Growing Local: Expanding the Western North Carolina Food and Farming Economy (2007). Charlie and the research center recently completed a 420 county level assessments for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). Charlie Jackson remains instrumental in pioneering the development of the local food system in Western North Carolina.

Also inducted this year from Avery County was William Waightstill Avery, a pioneer in the Christmas tree industry. WNC Communities is honored to award stellar leaders in agriculture with a plaque on the prestigious WNC Agricultural Hall of Fame Wall located in the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research & Extension Center in Mills River, NC.