How Can We Help You?
Working Landscapes can help you achieve your local food and sustainable development goals. We partner with farmers, landowners, food service providers, school districts, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies.
Farmers
We understand small farming, and are motivated to create opportunities for you to thrive.
Being a small farmer requires hard work to simply produce food. Unfortunately, they are also required to be salespeople, delivery drivers, or processors. Working Landscapes has designed our food hub to solve the needs of small farmers: we have the infrastructure, technical know-how, marketing abilities, and product lines to help growers connect more easily to wholesale markets. We buy produce and meat from farms in our region, and we also provide technical assistance in such areas as food safety certification. Since 2012, we have worked with more than 80 farms and we prioritize creating opportunities for farmers of color.
Property Owners
“Working Landscapes’ founders led Warrenton’s first renovation project that included residential and commercial in the same building, demonstrating proof of concept and encouraging additional upstairs residential development in the downtown area..”
– Robert Davie, Town Administrator, Town of Warrenton
Looking to redevelop an underutilized building or community space? Our staff has firsthand experience in planning and implementing complex building reuse projects in small, economically distressed communities, including bringing together a variety of funding streams, working with architects and engineers, and developing pro formas. We can consult with you on a plan or serve as a developer on your project.
If you are a rural landowner and want to do more with your land, we can help you identify ways to put your land to work for you, the community and the planet. We can help connect you with new farmers looking for land to farm, develop a soil health plan, or brainstorm with you about your vision for your land. We are looking to further develop our programs in this area, and would like to hear from you about what your needs are so we can help you address them.
Food Service
Convenience. Quality. Community Benefits. One value-added product at a time.
We connect your hard-working kitchen to high quality, locally grown products in convenient, ready-to-use formats. We have ten years of experience in processing fresh, healthy locally grown food for food service customers. Maintaining the highest quality food safety standards means that you will always receive a quality product. . In our new, expanded produce processing facility, we can lightly process an array of vegetables and fruits to meet your needs. For example, our diced sweet potatoes make it easy to incorporate North Carolina’s state vegetable into your menus—a healthy, cost-effective ingredient in a wide range of dishes.
School Districts
“Working Landscapes is truly one of our most highly valued partners–in the classroom (students and adults), in the cafeteria (samples and surveys), and in the boardroom (strategic planning). I feel that you and your team have been a catalyst to our growth… as we have been to your team’s growth… enhancing our local agricultural systems, bringing hope & sustainability, and serving our students and our community!”
–Joe Otranto, Child Nutrition Director, Halifax County Schools
We can help you engage your students, teachers, cafeteria staff and parents in learning about and experiencing the benefits of healthy, local eating. Our fresh-cut vegetable products make it easy for you to serve local food on the cafeteria line, while our tested, core-curriculum aligned elementary school curriculum helps classrooms discover local, seasonal harvests firsthand. Since 2013, we have provided fresh-cut local produce to 20 school districts in North Carolina, and engaged more than 14,000 students in hands-on learning and school gardens.
Agencies and Organizations
“Our partnership with Working Landscapes was instrumental in the development and approval of the Kerr-Tar Regional Food Policy. Working Landscapes was very involved in the whole process from beginning to end and provided the expertise and guidance to ensure the Policy was strategic and inclusive.”
– Diane Cox, Kerr-Tar Council of Governments
Working Landscapes can help your agency or organization design and lead exemplary, engaging community planning and research initiatives. We have expertise in community-based environmental management, community development, small town revitalization, greenways, regional food systems, regenerative agriculture, and alternative energy systems. We can also help you create a climate justice strategy and road-map to zero carbon emissions.