• Garlic
• Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
• Garlic Scapes
• Goat Cheese Cups
• Watermelon
• Red Beets
• Acorn Squash
• Savoy Cabbage
• Butternut Squash
• Covington Sweet Potatoes
• Globe Eggplant
• Green Cabbage
• Collards
• Grape Tomatoes
• Lacinato Kale
• Goat Chevre Logs
• Green Kale
• Carolina Ruby Sweet Potatoes
• > see full calendar
• To receive availability sheets by fax or email,
• > contact Trace

• TUESDAY:
• Hillsborough, Raleigh, Durham, Morrisville, Chapel Hill
• THURSDAY:
• Greensboro, Saxapahaw, Winston-Salem
• FRIDAY:
• Hillsborough, Raleigh, Durham, Morrisville, Chapel Hill

• WHY BUY LOCAL AND ORGANIC?
  > learn more...

• Eastern Carolina Organics
  547 Industrial Park Drive
  Pittsboro, NC 27312
  Ph. 919.542.ECO4 (3264)
  

What We Do

We market and distribute wholesale Carolina organic farm produce to retailers, restaurants and buying clubs. We think (heck, we KNOW) that a sustainable food system is based on providing fresh local fruit, vegetables, and herbs while protecting the environment.

We're farmer-owned and we act like it. 80 percent of our sales go right back to our growers. Our customers get fresh organic veggies and fruits, along with the knowledge that they're enabling farmers to protect their family land.

By pooling diverse harvests from several regions, we're able to meet the demand for a steady stream of high-quality, seasonal food choices throughout the year.

How We Started

We were born in 2004 as a project of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) and a recipient of a $48,000 Tobacco Trust Fund Commission grant. The goal of CFSA then is our mission now—to support emerging organic farmers and organic tobacco farmers while improving the supply of local organic produce.

In 2005, we became a private, grower- and manager-owned LLC with 13 grower and 2 staff owners. Today, ECO works with over 40 growers and 100 customers.

How We Support Farmers

We enable participating organic growers to profitably sell their products and support efforts to improve production and packaging techniques. ECO also offers a way for conventional growers to enter the expanding organic market, including assistance in the transition to organic farming. (To learn about this program, visit the Grow With ECO page.)

Our System vs. The Industrial System

Most of the items on our availability list are still in the fields when you place your order. After orders come in to the office, we call our growers to tell them what to harvest. The produce is received, quality-checked, and stored in one of our three temperature zones. It goes to customers within 1-2 days after arrival.

Each winter we collect updated demand data from our customers and tailor production to the local market demand. Collaboration with our customers is essential to our success. We've increased certain crops and initiated new ones based on suggestions from chefs. As part of our mission, we educate the public about the benefits of buying local, organic produce.

The Plant

Our entire building is "recycled." We're located in a funky warehouse, reconditioned into an eco-industrial park centered around Piedmont Biofuels, a million-gallon-per-year sustainable biodiesel production facility. Our farmers' trucks and the ECO truck are often seen filling up on local fuel before delivering local food to your door. The on-site pump is housed in a straw-bale building, topped with a solar panel.

Surrounding the facility is Piedmont Biofarm, a three-acre sustainable farm headed by Doug Jones. The farm runs a CSA and sells at regional farmers markets. Other projects at The Plant include the Screech Owl Lettuce Greenhouse, featuring hydroponic and carbon recycling systems, bee hives to feed the diverse plant life, and a massive worm composting operation that processes all our office paper and compost.

Interspersed among The Plant is a Biodiversity Restoration Project, which graces the property with bountiful and attractive plant life. This project mitigates the loss of native habitat from development pressure, and has spawned similar projects elsewhere in Chatham County.

Also here is The Abundance Foundation, which increases awareness of sustainable energy and local food issues, and the Green Bean Counter, who provides financial services to ECO and area green organizations.

Every Friday, all the minds and hands of the various projects at The Plant come together for a Local Food Lunch in the Plant's eco-conscious kitchen. Rotating teams cook food with locally sourced foods for forty or more people... family-style. It's a chance to catch up with the folks from various projects, socialize, brainstorm and otherwise strengthen and celebrate the sustainable community. Farmers, interns, fuel makers, policy makers, produce distributors—the various people of The Plant all represented at the table and sharing a meal.

The PLENTY

We are always interested in innovative ways to continue to serve our mission of cultivating a sustainable food system by providing a viable production and distribution network to our customers and farmers. To this end, we are pleased to announce that effective September 1, 2009 ECO can now accept payments in the form of PLENTY, a vibrant local alternative currency here in Pittsboro. The PLENTY (which stands for Piedmont Local Economy Tender) is a local currency that is backed by and redeemable (1:1 ratio) in Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) through Capital Bank branch in Pittsboro. The PLENTY is a unique opportunity to benefit local businesses and the local economy, as it circulates only within a 6 county region of the Piedmont--Chatham, Orange, Durham, Wake, Lee and Alamance. (While we know that this won't apply to many of our dedicated customers, we thought you would be interested to know about this exciting development).

We hope ECO's accepting of the PLENTY will encourage some of our local customers to consider also accepting it, now that you know you have an outlet for it to circulate. For more information I encourage you to visit the PLENTY website.

If you are interested, here are the logistics:

* We're happy to accept PLENTYs to a maximum equivalent of $1000 per month, per customer.

* Since the PLENTY doesn't have a quantity to cover cents on the dollar, you can round down on payments and we'll simply roll the balance over until it equals 1 PLENTY.

* Please do not mail your PLENTYs; it's just like mailing cash. Instead, please alert us when you have a payment available and we'll notify our driver to pick it up upon the next delivery to your business.

Sandi Kronick, CEO

Sandi got her start in the sustainable food scene in college as the Local Food Coordinator for a 700-member dining co-op in Oberlin, Ohio. After learning how to communicate efficiently with the area's Amish farmers (who don't drive or use phones, fax or email), she figured she could set up a vibrant local food system anywhere. After consulting with Cleveland restaurants to help them set up local buying programs, Sandi moved to NC and hooked up with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, launching ECO in 2004. She oversees all business management activities, ensuring that the company is growing in-line with our goals of making a positive impact in both the consumer and grower communities. Sandi's an 'opportunivore,' (she experiments in the kitchen with whatever's available).

Todd Dumke, Operations Manager

A Chef for over 15 years, Todd started out as one of ECO's first customers, as Chef de Cuisine at the Carolina Inn. An avid gardener, Todd wanted to get out of the kitchen and onto the farm. He oversees operations and quality control. He communicates regularly with growers and customers, making sure everything we deliver our customers is what they want. Todd always has great recipes and gardening secrets to share. He's an official tomato snob.

Trace Ramsey, Project Manager

Trace came to ECO after 5 successful years as Produce Manager at Tidal Creek Food Co-op in Wilmington, NC. He's been involved in agriculture since he was eleven, picking strawberries for a roadside stand. He has been an apple inspector, a community garden activist, a produce-buying club organizer, and Food Not Bombs cook. Trace writes a blog called Cricket Bread about local food, farming and alternative economies. Trace is also a coordinator of Crop Mob, a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together with experienced farmers willing to share their knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians.

Tony Kleese, Production Coordinator

Tony Kleese has been active in the local and national sustainable agriculture movement as a farmer and an activist since 1989. As a farmer he has managed organic vegetable and cut flower operations in Chatham, Franklin, Orange and Yancey counties in North Carolina. As an activist he has served as Coordinator of the Organic Trade Association's Organic Certifiers Council working with organic certifiers from across the US to help develop the USDA's National Organic Standards. Locally he has been the Coordinator, an Instructor, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Sustainable Farming Program at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, NC, and has served on the Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board. He has a long history with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) serving as Organic Certification Committee Chair, Chair of the Board of Directors, Conference Coordinator, Organic Farm Inspector, and Executive Director.

In 2008, Tony launched The Earthwise Company, a consulting company focused on using strategic planning and investment to foster the development of local and organic food systems in the Carolinas and beyond.

Cindy Gregory, Delivery Driver
Cindy is the rock of the organization. She makes sure that what you order is what you receive. She comes to work in the early hours of the morning, loads the truck and gets our farmers' products to your door. When she isn't driving the truck around, you can find her at her favorite fishing spots.

The 10% Campaign

“ The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) is committed to building North Carolina's sustainable local food economy. CEFS is readying a statewide "10% Campaign" to encourage consumers to buy/grow local foods. ECO is proud to support our customers who are participating in The 10% Challenge and are encouraging our employees to do the same!

For more information, please visit The 10% Campaign website. ”

John Ogle from Hunting Creek Organics

Spicy Braised Kale with Tomatoes