Claudia and Steven Townsend and their specialty cut flower farm, Foli Flower Farm, will be producing flowers such as these in part with grant money awarded to them by the NC AgVentures program. (Submitted photo)
Seventy family farms in 46 counties have been named winners in a grant program aimed at supporting family farms. The competitive grant program — NC AgVentures — is administered by the NC State Extension Service, with funding provided through the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
The grants are awarded for innovative projects aimed at diversifying, expanding or implementing new entrepreneurial plans for farm operations. Growers received grant awards of between $2,000 and $8,000.
Among those who were winners are Claudia and Steven Townsend. They are starting their own specialty cut flower farm, Foli Flower Farm. The farm will be planting peonies and hydrangeas with the grant award. The two have managed vegetable production at Sanders Ridge Farm for the past three years. The Townsends say they are happy to have learned so much from Cindy and Neil Shore and are excited to bring more local flowers to Yadkin County.
Farmers in 46 counties — Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Forsyth, Gaston, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Iredell, Johnston, Lincoln, Martin, Mecklenburg, Nash, Northampton, Orange, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Sampson, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Union, Vance, Wake, Wayne, Wilson, Wilkes, Warren, and Yadkin, were eligible.
The North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission in 2000 to lessen the financial impact to farmers and tobacco-related businesses caused by the sharp decline of tobacco in the agricultural economy.
Cooperative Extension is an educational partnership of the state’s two land-grant universities, North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State University, county governments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Its mission is to deliver education and technology that enrich the lives, land and economy of North Carolina.
