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Issues to be explored Consumer interest in local, and sustainably raised meat is on the rise across North Carolina, and Cabarrus cattle farmers are poised to take advantage of this increase in demand. The 2007 USDA Census listed 14 Cabarrus farms with 50 -100 beef cattle in inventory, an ideal herd size for farmers interested in accessing local beef markets. The Census also lists 69 farms with 20 -49 beef cattle. These farms are ideally suited to scale up inventories, which would create a larger pool of Cabarrus farmers able to both access local markets and take advantage of this increased consumer demand. MARKET ACCESS Commodity markets dominate — The majority of Cabarrus' agricultural products are sold in commodity markets. Cabarrus farmers sold only $90,000 worth of commodities directly to consumers in 2007, even less than the $100,000 of direct commodity sales reported in 2002. Local and regional market channels offer untapped opportunity — Cabarrus County farmers currently have few ways to market their products directly beyond the sales that occur at the Piedmont Farmers Markets. Some local farmers do participate in meat buying clubs and /or sell their produce through CSAs, but the numbers are few. Retail, food service and institutional market channels present an untapped opportunity for Cabarrus County farmers both locally and regionally. Sysco markets and distributes food products to restaurants, lodging facilities and institutions worldwide. The company has two N.C. locations, and one — Sysco Charlotte, LLC — is headquartered in Concord. Sysco recently expressed interest in marketing beef raised in Cabarrus County as part of its Source Verified Program. The company is also exploring plans to open a meat and fish processing facility in Cabarrus County. The Southern Piedmont includes Mecklenburg County, home to the city of Charlotte — the 18th largest city in the U.S. — as well as approximately 900,000 people. According to the USDA Food Atlas, Mecklenburg is also home to 186 grocery stores and 721 full - service restaurants. Charlotte is also home to the Southeast headquarters of the nation's largest organic food distributor — Albert's Organics. The company places a priority on buying local (within 150 miles) and regional (within 250 miles) foods from farmers surround- ing its distribution centers, and its recent move to the Queen City will provide a valuable new market channel for Cabarrus' producers of certified organic fruits and vegetables. Regional perspective is valuable — Across North Carolina, an increasing number of consumers want high - quality food, produced with farming practices they support and purchased through markets they trust. Developing a regional approach to the Cabarrus food system is one way to help meet this demand. However, the 11- county Southern Piedmont region is home to only 6,867 farms — 13% of North Carolina's farms '12 And as in Cabarrus County, the farming population is aging, with few fruit and vegetable producers. (Only 293 of the region's farms grow vegetables; only 164 include orchard land.) Regionally -based efforts, such as growers associations that support farmers in producing for local markets; processing facilities where small -scale producers can pool resources to handle processing, freezing and long -term storage; and farmer - owned cooperatives and outside distributors that coordinate supply and demand between producers and market demand can help farmers succeed by increasing their access to a variety of market channels .44 Issues to be explored Cabarrus farmers need access to all major market channels in order to thrive: direct sales (farmers' markets, food- buying clubs and CSAs); retail (grocery stores); food service (restaurants and institutions). There are different opportunities and challenges associated with each of these market channels. Common to most is the need for infrastructure, businesses and support systems to store, process, distribute and market local products. Cabarrus County Food System AsAsessmentt nu I 1 1 -1 Page 631 photo: Jennifer Curtis