From loss of infrastructure, crops and market outlets to erosion of precious topsoil, WNC’s farms are struggling to pick up the pieces left behind after the storm.

From loss of infrastructure, crops and market outlets to erosion of precious topsoil, WNC’s farms are struggling to pick up the pieces left behind after the storm.
“I ask our representative, Chuck Edwards, to vote against any Farm Bill that stops states and voters from making laws to regulate agricultural products.”
LaKyla Hodges is the equity and education manager of Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.
New farmers piece together solutions in the face of out-of-reach property prices,
Similar to the craft beer industry, local hemp growers and sellers are finding some success by formulating their own products, creating a strong brand and selling directly to consumers.
Uncertainty is a fact of life at nonprofits, especially with regard to funding. But local organizations are increasingly attuned to another uncertainty: how to prepare for the consequences that climate change will have on their work.
“Permanently protected farms have helped preserve a portion of the county’s rich farming heritage, kept intact part of the rapidly vanishing agrarian landscape, maintained the viability of local food supply and created new opportunities for agritourism.”
“A vote for Terri is a vote for family farms, for education and for thriving rural communities!”
Despite WNC’s history of agricultural knowledge and abundance, the legacy of Jewish farming — and its deep wisdom surrounding food security, land ownership and community building — has remained shrouded in relative obscurity. The Fairview-based Yesod Farm + Kitchen is working to change that narrative.
“Healthy soil and the biodiversity that generates and maintains it is key in simultaneously improving food security, watershed health, preventive medicine and climate mitigation,” says farmer, ethnobotanist and educator Mark Cohen.
The Organic Growers School Spring Conference brings its roster of workshops, seed exchange, children’s programming and more to a new venue.
“I’m proud of all the women and men farmers working side by side with respect and appreciation for one another because they know we are all stronger together.”
Local city governments offer leaf collection and processing services, but residents can also put their own fallen leaves to good use.
A renewed focus on farming aims to provide STEM education opportunities for students while ultimately making the organization self-sustaining.
“As the Dogwood Health Trust forms its board, I urge its founding members to address the underlying determinants of our failing health by investing in a local food system with soil-building at its core.”
Local farmers find another revenue stream in cultivating plants for seed.
As shifting weather patterns begin to affect WNC, new gardening strategies and hardier plant varieties may be needed.
For its 25th anniversary Spring Conference, Organic Growers School looks to bring in the wisdom of people of color to talk about race-related issues in farming and the food system.
Growing vegetables in limited daylight and freezing temperatures is no picnic. But Asheville-area winter markets feature a surprising selection of fresh, locally grown produce, thanks to savvy farmers.
Hydroponics is taking off around the globe, the country and in Western North Carolina. But it’s not just backyard gardeners who want to reap hydroponics’ impressive list of benefits, which range from a rapid growth rate to less labor to water conservation to crop consistency.