"In the Kerr-Tar region, we have the ability to feed our population healthy food from our own local farms, thereby helping to address many of our region’s pressing economic, food security, and health needs."
This first line of the Kerr-Tar Regional Food Policy serves as both a point of pride and a call to action. KTCOG recognizes the value in building a resilient and equitable regional food system and continues to explore best practices for doing so.
If you are interested in connecting with KTCOG food systems projects or partners, please reach out to Laila Abed at labed@kerrtarcog.org
Interested in making systems-level change in our region?
Apply to be on the KTRFC today!
In March of 2024, KTCOG hosted a series of five conversations (one in each Kerr-Tar county), in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension, to assess the regional food system. With more than 75 attendees from a variety of backgrounds, the insight gained from these engagement sessions provided needed updates to the 2019 stakeholder data and informed the work of the Kerr-Tar Regional Food Council. Explore the Framing Our Food System (FOFS) Findings Report and access the raw county-specific data using the QR code within.
A key milestone outlined in the Kerr-Tar Regional Food Policy is the establishment of a Kerr-Tar Regional Food Council (KTRFC) with the purpose of guiding its implementation in the community. In May of 2024, the KTRFC met for the first time, bringing together 15 leaders from across the five Kerr-Tar counties. These members represent a range of interests across the food system, from production and processing to access and elected office.
Regional Regional Food Council Meeting, KTCOG Offices, May 23, 2024
Learn more about the members of the KTRFC HERE.
Meeting Minutes
December 10, 2025
Within the five-county Kerr-Tar Region (Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance, and Warren), we have the ability to feed our population healthy food from our own local farms, thereby helping to address many of our region’s pressing economic, food security, and health needs. In 2019, the Kerr-Tar Regional Food Policy was enacted with the intention to provide a strategy for growing a sustainable regional food system, encompassing sustainable food production, processing, distribution, marketing, consumption, and waste management.
As adopted by the Kerr-Tar Council of Governments Board on September 24, 2020
Regional Food Policy Conference, VGCC, June 4, 2019
County Food Profiles
(2017 Ag Census, NC Cooperative Extension)
County Ag Profiles
(2022 Ag Census)
Tri-COG Food Ecosystem Economic Development Strategy (F.E.E.D.S.) is a collaboration between Upper Coastal Plain, Central Pines, and Kerr-Tar Regional Councils, serving Chatham, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Nash, Northampton, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake, Warren, and Wilson Counties.
With each COG having conducted their own research into the importance of resilient food systems through their respective projects (Healthy Foods Asset Mapping Project, Project 40, Kerr-Tar Regional Food Policy), Tri-COG FEEDS set out to shorten supply chains, drive economic development, create quality jobs, enhance resilient practices, and foster equity in the greater region’s food system.
Visit the Tri-COG FEEDS website to explore research findings, implementation plans, resources for farmers, and an ongoing resource map
