DINING IN
ise from UNC’s Renaissance Computing Institute
(RENCI), N.C. State University’s Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) and other departments
at UNC, Duke and N.C. A&T. Not surprisingly, the
effort has numerous strands.
‘To do something about it’
The idea for one way to do this emerged at a meal
provided by restaurateur and local food advocate
Andrea Reusing. “I’d invited the RENCI guys with
something different in mind,” said Ammerman of a
planning session at Reusing’s Lantern restaurant.
But at dinner, which Reusing provided gratis,
Charles Schmitt ’ 89 from the computing institute got
to talking with Noah Ranells, a farmer and Orange
County agricultural economic development coordi-
nator. Ranells said how important it was to put farm-
ers’ markets in the right place, and Schmitt began
envisioning a tool to help site new markets where
they have the best chance of success. Now RENCI is
working on a geo-locator that will let those consider-
ing a potential market site evaluate information on
demographics, transportation, farms, ease of access for
farmers and customers, and existing conventional and
alternative grocery stores. Nothing like the geo-loca-
tor exists, and the USDA is following its
development with an eye to adopting it
nationally.
DANIEL COSTON
‘We want
Why has it
taken off
in the Triangle
but not
in other places?’
Alice Ammerman
’ 82
KATHLEEN KEARNS is a freelance writer based in Chapel
Hill.
