Learn – Build – Eat: Foster Caviness and the Triad
Foster Caviness, rooted in North Carolina since 1902, takes great pride in being a food distribution partner for families in our region. Jason Campworth, an Independent Director and Special Projects Director at Foster Caviness, highlights the company’s efforts to partner with local farms to aggregate products. This is particularly challenging in rural areas, where small farms are spread out and may not have a variety of products to offer. This makes it less advantageous for distributors to support those farms. However, by banding together and forming co-ops, communities can aggregate products from several farms, making it more appealing for distributors.
Foster Caviness is focused on developing the region’s agriculture infrastructure, including cold storage and shared transportation. The company has taken a unique approach by offering services like backhaul services using their trucks, which traverse North Carolina’s highways, to pick up produce from these farms and offer it to other distributors. This initiative helps farms that may not have access to food safety audits or understand insurance regulations. Foster Caviness assists these farms in connecting with resources to achieve audit certifications and meet insurance requirements, enabling them to do business with entities that sell produce to schools and hospitals, which are subject to food safety regulations.