ASAP Connections

Local Christmas Trees Brighten the Season

Picture the perfect Christmas tree. It’s tall and cone-shaped, has strong boughs for hanging ornaments, its needles stay on the tree for weeks after it’s harvested, and it smells divine. This ideal Christmas tree is likely a Fraser fir.  READ MORE

Growing Local airs on WNCW on Mondays during Morning Edition at 8:45 am, featuring the local food and farm stories we discover through our Local Food Research Center. Past broadcasts are archived on our website and can be heard on SoundCloud or iTunes.

What’s Fresh Dec. 4-10, 2020

With the first of December (and the first snow!), most Buncombe County farmers tailgate markets have switched to holiday market mode, which means you’ll find more artisan and craft vendors and slightly fewer produce vendors. While you can still grab what you need to make nourishing meals this week (including greens, potatoes, winter squash, meat, cheese, bread, and more), you can also check a few items off your holiday shopping list.  READ MORE

2019 Appalachian Grown Producer Survey Report

June 2020: In ASAP’s mission to support Southern Appalachian farms and build a local food system, we developed the Appalachian Grown (AG) branding program in 2007 with the goal of expanding local market opportunities for farmers by providing a way for the public to easily identify products from local farms. We send a survey to all AG farms annually to assess the impact of program services and support and gather feedback to shape the program’s future direction. This report contains the findings from the survey sent to 800 Appalachian Grown farmers in November of 2019.

COVID-19: Impact on Southern Appalachian Farmers and Vendors Selling to Direct Markets

March 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of restaurants, schools, events, and in some places, disruption of farmers markets, is having an immediate and potentially devastating impact on farmers and vendors selling to local markets in the Southern Appalachians. In order to better understand these experiences and how to best support these farm and food businesses, ASAP surveyed the farmers and vendors in their network. Read the press release about the report.

EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Food and Farm Assessment

November 2019: ASAP’s Local Food Research Center completed a Food and Farm Assessment in the seven western counties of North Carolina and on the Qualla Boundary to guide the work of the EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Project.