March 2025 - Carolina Farm Trust

28 Mar, 2025

The Power of Local Food Markets: How CFT Market is Changing the Game

By Siobhan Norbeck|2025-03-28T17:32:35+00:00March 28, 2025|Food Equity, Sustainability|0 Comments

Across the country, access to fresh, locally grown food remains a challenge for many communities. Food deserts—areas without easy access to grocery stores or fresh produce—are a growing issue, particularly in urban and low-income neighborhoods. Carolina Farm Trust (CFT) is working to change that. Through CFT Market, we’re building a local food system that supports farmers, strengthens communities, and ensures that fresh, nutritious food is accessible to everyone.

Why Local Food Markets Matter

Large-scale food distribution is broken. The current system prioritizes efficiency and cost-cutting, often at the expense of farmers and consumers. Small and mid-sized farmers struggle to compete with industrial agriculture, while consumers are left with limited choices, rising prices, and food that has traveled thousands of miles before reaching store shelves.

CFT Market is a response to this broken system. It’s more than a grocery store or food hub—it’s a community-driven

The Role of Urban Farms in Healing Communities

By Siobhan Norbeck|2025-03-10T13:37:25+00:00March 10, 2025|Food Equity, Sustainability|0 Comments

In cities across the country, neighborhoods are transforming vacant lots into thriving urban farms. These spaces do more than just grow food—they bring communities together, provide economic opportunities, and create green spaces that improve public health. Urban farming is a powerful tool for tackling food insecurity and revitalizing communities, and Carolina Farm Trust’s Urban Farm Network is leading the charge in North Carolina.

Why Urban Farms Matter

Food Access in Underserved Communities

Food deserts—neighborhoods with little to no access to fresh, affordable food—affect millions of Americans. The USDA estimates that over 40 million people in the U.S. live in food deserts, where convenience stores and fast food chains dominate, offering highly processed, unhealthy options. Urban farms break this cycle by growing fresh, nutritious produce right in the heart of these communities.

Economic Empowerment and Job Creation

Urban farms

The True Cost of Cheap Food: Who Pays the Price?

By Siobhan Norbeck|2025-03-04T14:58:08+00:00March 4, 2025|Food Equity, Sustainability|0 Comments

Walk into any grocery store, and you’ll find shelves stocked with inexpensive processed foods, bulk meats, and cheap produce. On the surface, this seems like a win—low prices mean more people can afford to eat, right? But the reality is much more complex. The true cost of cheap food goes far beyond what we see on our grocery receipts. The hidden costs—healthcare expenses, environmental destruction, and economic inequities—are devastating, and we are all paying the price.

Industrialized food systems prioritize efficiency and profit over sustainability, public health, and community resilience. At Carolina Farm Trust, we believe there’s a better way: investing in local food systems that nourish both people and the planet.

The Hidden Costs of Cheap Food

1. The Health Crisis: Processed and Industrialized Diets are Making Us Sick

Ultra-processed, mass-produced foods have led to a global health crisis. Diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and

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Monthly Archives: March 2025