Organic Growth: The Carolina Farm Trust and Trane Technologies
The Carolina Farm Trust increases access to locally grown produce and drives growth in the regional food economy.
Communities need a lot of things to grow: access to essentials like healthy food and a strong economy, and also intangibles like connection and purpose. Charlotte-based social entrepreneur Zack Wyatt saw a way to connect them all.
The Carolina Farm Trust (CFT) is a non-profit dedicated to strengthening our local food systems by working alongside partners, farmers, markets and consumers to increase access to healthy food. Their vision is to make the Charlotte region a global leader in local food production. Trane Technologies is proud to be a founding partner.
Organic Growth: The Carolina Farm Trust and Trane Technologies - Watch the video here.
Sustainable and resilient food systems
CFT is an innovative and holistic model, truly working from farm to market to table to support people every step of the way. The non-profit offers programming to support local farmers, supports land conservation efforts and operates an urban farm and a market.
At the Urban Farm at Aldersgate, CFT director of urban agriculture Mariah Henry and her team grow a dozen varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. They offer a neighborhood market on Fridays, and host educational tours for students and volunteer opportunities for community members. A classically trained chef with a passion for community engagement, Mariah sees Aldersgate as a blueprint for sustainable, equitable and profitable urban farm systems.
The team at CFT is also in the process of building the CFT Market, a new concept that combines a commercial kitchen, event space, meat processing facility, culinary education center, and wholesale and retail for produce, dairy, meat and prepared foods. Located in East Charlotte, CFT Market will offer farmers, butchers, bakers, chefs and neighbors a place to come together to build community and support the local food economy.
Walking alongside our partners
Trane Technologies is proud to walk alongside our partners at CFT. In addition to financial support, we share our expertise in a range of functions, from finance to marketing and operations. Our employees volunteer at Aldersgate and CFT Market, and CFT provided catering and joined in the conversation for our Purple Teams Summit this year, the gathering of our global employee-led volunteer network. Our shared goal is to increase community access to fresh, healthy food and agricultural jobs and education.
Trane Technologies Director of Global Citizenship Deidra Parrish Williams and her team members Amy Younger and China Antoine volunteering at the Urban Farm at Aldersgate.
What began as a conversation over breakfast between CFT founder Zack Wyatt and Trane Technologies VP of Sustainability Scott Tew two years ago has grown into a strong partnership between two organizations that believe in the power of transforming systems to make a positive impact on our communities.
Learn more about the Carolina Farm Trust.
Learn more about Trane Technologies' corporate citizenship and community engagement work.
