ASAP Connections

Local Food. Strong Farms. Healthy Communities.

ASAP Connections

Land of Sky Regional Council (LOSRC)

 

Advancing Food System Equity

As a community, how can we remove the systematic and systemic practices that perpetuate poverty and reduce food system equity? There is no single solution; however, a number of organizations in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania counties devote themselves […]Read More ▶▶

Building Successful Businesses with Mountain BizWorks

For over two decades, Mountain BizWorks has helped small business owners in WNC. As a nonprofit community development financial institution, Mountain BizWorks provides training, coaching, and financing to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. This includes family farms and food […]Read More ▶▶

Community Engagement through Farm to School

Farm to school is a set of educational activities that includes school gardens, local food cooking classes and demonstrations, farm field trips, and the serving of local food in school cafeterias. Farm to school helps keep local farms in business […]Read More ▶▶

Community Engagement with ASAP

From the very beginning, ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) has undertaken its work from the perspective that building local food systems should be a democratic, grassroots process where engaged citizens actively create the food system that best serves everyone in […]Read More ▶▶

Diversity and Independence in Agriculture

One farm family working to sustain farmland and feed our WNC communities are the Stepps of Stepp’s Plants. Stepp’s is a third-generation farm in Flat Rock (Henderson County). They grow and sell bedding plants, vegetable plants, hanging baskets, roses, shrubs, […]Read More ▶▶

Diversity and Independence in Local Food Businesses

The tagline of Asheville-based grocery store Katuah Market says it all: “Local By Nature.” A locally owned and community-oriented natural food store in Biltmore Village, Katuah Market has a mission to promote local farms and the food they produce, as […]Read More ▶▶

Diversity of Independent Businesses

Historically, farming in WNC has been heavily dependent on single-crop industries like Burley tobacco, apples, and Christmas trees. Over the second half of the twentieth century, as the agricultural industry centralized and consolidated, the region lost much of its infrastructure […]Read More ▶▶

Engaged Community

In 2000, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) began a local food initiative in the Southern Appalachian region of Western North Carolina (WNC). The Local Food Campaign was designed to engage the public with local farms, create demand for locally grown […]Read More ▶▶

Equity and Fairness

The hospitality and tourism industry, much like the agricultural industry, has been and continues to be a prominent economic force in WNC. The region is home to the two most visited national parks (the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and […]Read More ▶▶

Works Cited and Data Sources

Works Cited Allegretto, Sylvia, Marc Doussard, Dave Graham-squire, Ken Jacobs, Dan Thompson, and Jeremy Thompson. “Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-wage Jobs in the Fast-food Industry”. UC Berkeley Labor Center, 2013. http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/publiccosts/fast_food_poverty_wages.pdf. Ferrer, MCR, and EG Fonsah. […]Read More ▶▶

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peach from JW Mitchell Farms

Local Food Research Center

Find our work examining the impact of local food systems.
Growing Local Radio

Growing Local Radio

Listen to local food and farm stories on ASAP’s weekly podcast.
local food cafeteria taste test

Growing Minds Farm to School

Visit growing-minds.org to learn about ASAP's Farm to School program!