Since launching in 2020, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s FarmsSHARE program has built a statewide alternative food distribution network grounded in partnerships, strategically investing in local food and agriculture to support North Carolina’s rural economies, small farms, and communities.
With over 1.7 million pounds of fresh, locally-grown food purchased at fair market prices from 300+ farmers across the state and distributed to thousands of food-insecure households, FarmsSHARE offers a proven model for how state and private support can drive public health, economic development, and community resilience.
At the heart of the program are 18 food hubs, deeply rooted in the communities they serve. These food hubs purchase food from local farmers at fair market prices, then work with trusted community organizations to distribute free, high-quality, culturally relevant food boxes to households experiencing food insecurity. The result is a local food system that supports farmers, strengthens local food infrastructure, and ensures that fresh, healthy food reaches those who need it most.
Through the FarmsSHARE program, we’ve had the privilege of growing our relationships with our partnering food hubs across the state. As we celebrate and reflect on five years of impact, we’re shining a light on food hubs as vital anchor points both to the FarmsSHARE program and to North Carolina’s regional food system at large, from the mountains to the coast.
FarmsSHARE Coordinator Lenwood Edwards and FarmsSHARE Faith Community Organizer Emily Ling recently chatted with seven of the food hubs we work with in Central North Carolina about the impact of FarmsSHARE in their communities, and their vision for the future.
Operation Spring Plant, Oxford
Piedmont Fresh, Thomasville
Freshlist, Charlotte
Black Farmer’s Hub, Raleigh
The Produce Box, Raleigh
Tall Grass Food Box, Durham
Farmer Foodshare, Durham
Operation Spring Plant
Owners and operators of Operation Spring Plant, Philip and Dorathy Barker, are well-known in the local food advocacy world for supporting Black farming communities. Located in Oxford, NC, Operation Spring Plant was established in 1987 and serves community organizations, farmers, churches, senior centers, and folks growing back into society after incarceration.
Participating in FarmsSHARE has allowed Operation Spring Plant to grow their business, create jobs, invest in infrastructure, advance fresh food access in their region, and build meaningful partnerships powered by deep roots in the community. Dorathy and Phillip Barker describe a particularly successful relationship with a local church that distributes FarmsSHARE food boxes to congregation members in need: “They were in awe of the quality of produce, so they came to visit the farm. They became interested in opening their own pantry because they saw the impact of getting healthy food. We’ve had a great partnership.”
Amidst shifts in federal funding for agricultural programs, Operation Spring Plant has found success in focusing on non-governmental funding sources, working with community organizations for sponsorship programs, introducing new value-added products, and prioritizing consumer marketing. However, grant and partnership-based funding remains critical to long-term planning and success, not just for the food hub but for the farmers they work with, and the communities they serve. “Farmers are struggling as their programs are also being cut, so FarmsSHARE helps them continue to grow,” says Dorathy Barker. “FarmsSHARE doesn’t just get healthy food to the food deserts, it also helps the farmers. More programs like FarmsSHARE are needed to fight hunger in America.”
Piedmont Fresh
For Piedmont Fresh, based in Thomasville, food access programs like FarmsSHARE constitute the bulk of their operations, fostering connections between local producers and folks who want homegrown produce. Serving Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, and Rowan counties, Piedmont Fresh works with a network of small and mid-sized farms, including some direct-to-consumer operations, wholesale partners, nonprofits, and the Triad Buy-In Co-op.
Food Hub Manager, Jordan McLean, shared that FarmsSHARE provides consistent market outlets for small farms in unpredictable times, while also allowing local food access organizations to provide more healthy options to those in need. “Fresh food is the first thing to be cut when you’re cutting budgets for your family,” she notes. “Poor-quality food lasts longer, but fresh food is crucial for good health.” By supporting local food systems from farm to fork, FarmsSHARE and food hubs drive long-term community health and economic development.
FarmsSHARE has also made a difference for Piedmont Fresh as an organization, strengthening their relationships with community partners and healthcare providers, as well as stabilizing the food hub’s staffing and operating capacity. “Programs that prioritize local food do more than just feed people,” says Jordan McLean. “They are an investment in the local economy, in the health of the communities, and in the farmland that is so precious in NC. Every dollar stays within the community and supports small farms. It reduces the reliance on the huge supply chains that are not always viable — you address hunger within the community and strengthen the local economy, in turn it strengthens the local food systems and builds a more resilient community.”
Freshlist
Freshlist has been serving the greater Charlotte area for eight years, during which time they’ve evolved their strategic focus areas as needed to best respond to community needs. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all of their operations were based in farm-to-restaurant sales, but now, a large percentage of their sourced produce is distributed through food access programs. Freshlist’s Director of Business Development Erin Bradley says that partnering with FarmsSHARE allowed their business to work with many more local farmers beyond those able to sell to restaurants, supporting smaller farms that are vital to the local community but that may struggle to navigate market instabilities more than their larger counterparts.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, for example, Freshlist stepped up to buy large amounts of stored product from farmers who lost market channels and infrastructure in the storm. With operational and financial support from FarmsSHARE, Freshlist was empowered to be nimble and adaptable in the face of disaster, preventing loss of revenue and loss of produce for Western NC farmers.
“All of the dollars invested into this program get invested back into the community,” says Erin Bradley. “When you focus on local farms, you really support NC’s economy.” By keeping dollars local, food access programs drive economic impact for communities, small businesses, and farmers.
Black Farmer’s Hub
Black Farmer’s Hub recently celebrated ninety years of food access work in Warren and Wake counties, with owner Demetrius Hunter carrying on his father’s legacy of bringing fresh food to those most in need. As Demetrius Hunter’s father instilled in him the importance of access to local food, he wants the same for future generations, “so young people learn where food comes from. They can have the knowledge to grow the things they need to eat.”
Black Farmer’s Hub distributes to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC, several churches and housing communities in the region, and Wake County Health & Human Services. Their involvement in FarmsSHARE has had significant benefits for their operation, including an expansion into two permanent brick-and-mortar storefront locations, one in Raleigh and one in Norlina, NC. Demetrius Hunter says that FarmsSHARE has been “a huge plus” as an infrastructure of support, lending Black Farmer’s Hub the financial and logistical capacity they’ve needed to thrive during major expansions and organizational changes over the last five years. “It’s helped ensure that we had the ability to get the food out when other funding sources ran out,” he notes. “We need organizations like CFSA.”
The Produce Box
As an urban food hub operating out of Raleigh, the Produce Box prioritizes getting fresh, local food to the Triangle through two key avenues: sales through an online webstore where customers purchase farm items for home delivery, and distribution directly to partner nonprofits and food banks interested in incorporating fresh produce into their programs. As a for-profit food hub, they are always looking to expand to new markets and customers, but also prioritize food systems work and support for local food procurement in the Triangle community.
For The Produce Box Director Bailey McNeill, the benefits of participating in FarmsSHARE have been many. She explained that FarmsSHARE has allowed The Produce Box to build relationships with, and purchase from, small-scale farmers who grow high-quality product, but who may not meet the pricing or volume requirements for standard wholesale purchases. They then can aggregate that produce for organizations doing food access work, while also providing good employment opportunities at the hub.
Looking to the future, The Produce Box wants to keep helping farmers focus on doing what they do best: growing healthy, delicious food. As local food procurement only becomes more popular and widespread in the Carolinas, Bailey McNeill hopes to expand sales to larger institutions like schools and childcare facilities., “The [FarmsSHARE] model is essential,” she notes. “It would be great to see it on a larger scale… making local food the norm institutionally.”
Tall Grass Food Box
From its hub in Durham, Tall Grass Food Box brings nutrition from farms to the people of the NC Triangle through their community-supported agriculture (CSA) program and school, church, and nonprofit partnership initiatives. Derrick Beasley and Gerald Harris co-founded the hub during the Covid-19 pandemic to support Black farmers and build local food systems centered on culturally relevant food, prioritizing relationships with local partners.
“The pandemic exposed a lot of holes in the food system and the needs that many communities were experiencing around food,” says Derrick Beasley. “Localized, regionalized food is the answer to pandemics and regional disasters due to climate change.” After most Covid-19 relief projects have ended, FarmsSHARE has continued to provide support to food hubs and food systems work, helping Tall Grass Food Box expand its work, grow partnerships, provide a consistent market channel to small-scale farmers, and serve as a reliable source of local food for community organizations.
After experiencing firsthand how food system investments power resilient communities, Derrick Beasley and Gerald Harris hope to see programs like FarmsSHARE grow and thrive in the future. “Local food hubs should be included in public health strategies, disaster response plans, and educational systems. Food is foundational and it shouldn’t be optional.”
Farmer Foodshare
Farmer Foodshare’s new Executive Director, Athan Barkoukis, is excited to helm the Durham-based food hub’s next chapter as they continue to help farmers grow their operations and access wholesale markets. In 2024, Farmer Foodshare worked with 64 farmers across 20 NC counties, connecting them with restaurant, wholesale, institutional, and nonprofit sales outlets and participating in a number of food access and food is medicine-based initiatives – including FarmsSHARE. The food hub has distributed over 1.4 million pounds of fresh, local food to people in need through FarmsSHARE, connecting both ends of the food value chain to help farmers, and communities, thrive.
“The more we purchase from local farmers, the more we contribute to North Carolina’s economy,” says Athan Barkoukis. “We’re supporting a statewide economy. Fresh food is reaching people in need, on the prevention side of health…Everyone should have access to fresh produce.”
Athan Barkoukis hopes that future local food purchasing programs will make a commitment at the state level. “North Carolina state funding for FarmsSHARE [would] be a reinvestment in the local economy and addresses medical issues; the state has a lot to gain by supporting this type of program. If the money isn’t coming from the federal government, the state will have to step up.”
The Big Picture: Smart Investment, Real Impact
Across the central region of North Carolina, the common thread is clear: FarmsSHARE works. Food hubs report that long-term, flexible funding allows farmers to confidently crop plan, invest in their businesses, and reduce the stress that comes with uncertain markets. Community partners report improved health outcomes, stronger relationships, and increased trust in local food systems.
It’s a win-win-win: produce box recipients are “beyond satisfied” with the freshness and quality of the food they receive, participating farmers are represented in – and engaged with – their home communities, and food dollars remain in the local economy. Plus, thanks to the local leadership prioritized in the FarmsSHARE model, food hubs have been able to tailor their partnerships and distribution strategies to best fit the needs of the counties they serve, ensuring that both community partners and food box recipients reflect the local population. FarmsSHARE is an economic strategy that keeps dollars local, invests in agricultural resilience, and advances food equity with dignity and care.
A Call to Action
Across Central North Carolina, FarmsSHARE is powering food security, local-level agriculture, and circular economies thanks to the dedicated partnership of food hubs like Black Farmer’s Hub, Operation Spring Plant, The Produce Box, Tall Grass Food Box, Freshlist, Farmer Foodshare, and Piedmont Fresh. Their work, and the positive impacts they’ve seen in their communities through FarmsSHARE and other food distribution programs, serve as a case study in the power of investing in local food systems. When we support farmers and prioritize healthy food access, we’re growing a stronger North Carolina from the ground up.
For policymakers, philanthropists, and funders, the message is simple: investing in FarmsSHARE is investing in North Carolina’s future. These food hubs are not just distributing produce, they are building infrastructure, training future farmers, and contributing to community health and wellbeing in measurable ways in some of the state’s most vulnerable communities.
The time to scale this work is now. The blueprint exists. The leadership is in place. And the results speak for themselves.
We’re thankful to our food hub partners who are working to change food access conversations to prioritizing healthy food for all.
Lenwood Edwards, FarmsSHARE Coordinator
Emily Ling, FarmsSHARE Faith Community Organizer
