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chemical-free (but not organically certified) vegetable farm. The three-semester, 112 <br /> hour/semester certificate program in Sustainable Agricultural Entrepreneurship <br /> emphasizes local marketing and manual farming techniques—although they have an <br /> old Ford tractor and new John Deere Gator utility vehicle. The farm currently produces <br /> 30 crops and 80 varieties. Its markets include the college's dining services, culinary <br /> programs, and Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance CSA. Food waste is collected, <br /> composted in six rotating compost bins producing a ton of compost each week, and <br /> applied to the fields. The programs are supported in part through a "Green Fee" of$1 <br /> per credit hour per semester self-imposed by the student senate in 2009, which <br /> generates about$400,000 each fiscal year. <br /> Kathlyn Terry is Director of Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD), a non-profit <br /> organization dedicated to creating sustainable, local economies in the Appalachian <br /> region since 1995. The organization owns two asset-based social enterprises, a wood <br /> products enterprise and a wholesale local food business. Ms. Terry described <br /> differences between a supply chain and food value chain, which includes direct markets <br /> such as farmers markets, restaurants, and small local retailers. It also includes <br /> wholesale markets such as Appalachian Harvest. Appalachian Harvest is a network of <br /> certified organic family farmers in Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee that provides <br /> local produce to regional food markets. Appalachian Sustainable Development provides <br /> farmers with on-farm training, technical assistance, and marketing support through <br /> direct marketing opportunities such as farmers markets, restaurants, CSAs, a Local <br /> Food Guide, and collective marketing opportunities such as the Appalachian Farm to <br /> Family Cooperative. ASD also offers farmers the use of their 15,000 square foot <br /> Packing and Grading Facility for processing, labeling, and packing produce. <br /> Appalachian Harvest serves 900 store outlets, 200 Ingles Markets and Whole Foods <br /> and currently has three times the demand for local organic produce than its supply. <br /> Thus, recruiting and training new farmers is necessary to maintain a local food system. <br /> Product selection, aggregation, infrastructure, and marketing also play important roles in <br /> the food value chain and progress has been made in the marketing and distribution side <br /> of the chain. <br /> Healthy Families Healthy Farms, an ASD project, uses funds raised from local churches <br /> and civic groups to purchase discounted organic produce from Appalachian Harvest. <br /> The produce is distributed by Feeding America in Southwest Virginia and Northeast <br /> Tennessee, formerly Second Harvest Food Bank. This program has provided organic <br /> produce to hungry families and supported family farms since 2004. <br /> Lynn Coale, Superintendent of the Patricia A. Hannaford Regional Technical School <br /> District and Career Center in Middlebury,Vermont, described how a secondary school <br /> meets the needs of the small and mid-sized farmers. Because it is part of the K-12 <br /> system, the program has to meet different federal and state educational requirements, <br /> one of which is emphasizing STEM skills, and the center runs summer institutes to <br /> develop math and science partnerships between academic and career/technical <br /> programs. The school is in a region with a strong small farm culture and cluster, which <br /> 5 <br />