Early last year, ASAP launched their Local Food Research Center based out of the ASAP office in Asheville.

Through integrated and applied research, the center examines the social, economic and environmental impacts of localizing food systems. Executive Director Charlie Jackson reports that the center produced seven publications in 2012, including food and farm assessments and a meat processing feasibility study for Western North Carolina.

To close out its inaugural year, the center completed a report on the barriers to and opportunities for increasing low-income communities’ access to fresh foods at farmers markets. A full report and quick guide for support organizations, community groups and farmers market managers have been released.

“To ASAP and others, the local food movement means ...