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and County Extension staff, as well as food processors and distributors. Questions were designed to identify processing capacity and opportunities. Interviewees include Jeff Parke, Gene Bost, Jim Daily, Audy Dover, Randy Fisher, Max Cruse and Cabarrus Extension Director Debbie Bost. Staff from three distributors—Albert's Organics, Joyce Foods and Mooresville Meat Center —were also interviewed. Questions were designed to identify processing capacity and needs. Issues and Themes Infrastructure cited as a need The County has no processing facilities for produce. Several people interviewed mentioned that access to community kitchen and a canner would be beneficial for local farmers. As mentioned earlier, a Food Policy Council committee has drafted a wish list for a facility that would help small and mid -scale farmers process produce so that it could be sold to wholesale distributors. The building would have loading docks, a place to wash produce, plus coolers and freezers. Christy Shi in Davidson County is organizing a group of food system stakeholders from Mecklenburg and neighboring counties to explore grant funding for research that would measure food production and consumption in the Charlotte metro area. The goal is to show the potential economic impact of a regional food system and to use the data to develop food systems infrastructure—possibly an aggregation facility —that will support producers from across the region. Cruse plant will provide local meat processing infrastructure County Cooperative Extension Director Debbie Bost reported that construction was expected to begin this Spring on the building that will house the Cruse slaughter facility. However, the County applied for a $300,000 grant from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund that will cover the costs of equipment for the facility, but did not receive the funding. The County needs an additional $200,000 to cover cost of handling wastewater inside the facility. Bost said the impact of wastewater handling on overall operations of the facility was unclear. Opportunity for local produce processing is limited One processor, the owner of a prepared dinner company, says cost affects his purchase of local food. Distribution is also a problem because he cannot go pick up products. Finally he reports he needs more supply and variety. If he buys squash form an individual farmer, it often isn't enough, so he has to go out and buy more, which is inconvenient. "Bottom line is if you can't guarantee product supply or availability, then it won't work," he says. "I'm open to buying local, if the supply is there and the price is reasonable." Gene Bost at the Bost Grist Mill in Concord sells some grits and corn meal, mostly as novelty items. He is open to selling /grinding locally -grown corn —not wheat —but currently doesn't have a way to store what he grinds. His facility is 13 Attachment number 1 1 -1 Page 248