Greensboro City Council

Guilford County Cooperative Extension Office; Greensboro Farmers Market; Out of the Garden Project; University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), this plan set goals to increase retail access to fresh, local produce, and to strengthen the local food system in Greensboro. In order to meet these goals, the Greensboro Fresh Food Action Plan offers three comprehensive strategies: (1) improve retail access to fresh local foods in neighborhoods through community efforts and initiatives; (2) expand existing local food business enterprises; and (3) create new local food business enterprises that address identified gaps in food access. Based on findings from interviews and surveys of residents, businesses, and food system stakeholders, the plan’s recommendations and analyses were compiled to supplement pre-existing community efforts and to address issues related to food access. Some key recommendations are to conduct a Know your Farmer education and outreach campaign to bring awareness to locally available fresh foods, to establish a Food Hub in order to narrow the gap in local food access, to build and sustain relationships between producers, distributors, and customers in effort to create a sustainable market demand for local fresh foods in Greensboro, and several other tangible suggestions. The City of Greensboro offers these recommendations as opportunities of optional participation and encourage public engagement and formation of partnerships amid implementation. The plan was adopted by the Greensboro City Council in 2015.