Cooperative Extension Service educators work within an established network of offices throughout the United States and have the potential to tap both structural and relationship networks to foster collaboration and catalyze institutional change in food systems. The prerequisites and processes to generate systemic change, however, challenge the established logic of information transfer that has dominated Extension Service practice. This paper considers the nature of Extension's engagement in food systems both conceptually and in practice, based on a two-year train-the-trainer professional development project in North Carolina designed to support the emergence of local food systems. Extension initiatives are examined in light of two social change models: diffusion of innovations, based on knowledge transfer and spatial diffusion; and institutional change, based on inter-organizational relationships and mutually held cultural understandings. We suggest that the work of food systems change is more usefully viewed through an institutional lens, with extension educators serving as "institutional entrepreneurs" to address and leverage the concerns of the communities in which they are embedded into lasting food system change.

Biological and agricultural diversity are connected to food security through strengthened resilience to both anthropogenic and natural perturbations. Increased resilience to stress via increased biodiversity has been described in a number of natural systems. Diversity in food production can be considered on the following three levels: (a) genetic diversity as reflected in the range of cultivars which can be selected for production; (b) species diversity, captured through production of a wide range of crops on each farm; and (c) broad ecosystem diversity, described by the diversity of production between farms and within the broader food system. A network of locally based food producers and entrepreneurs provides opportunity for high diversity at each network stage, with increased adaptive capacity and the ability for rapid response to disturbance. We argue that production techniques that use carefully planned diverse plantings, such as biointensive cultivation, increase resilience by increased water use efficiency, yield and nutrient retention while reducing pressure from pests and pathogens. We present a model for a diverse, distributed food system in the North Carolina Piedmont and analyze an existing distributed network by a food hub in South Carolina. Through these models, we argue that a shift in the food network has the potential to increase local food security by having food more reliably available where it is needed and by contributing to local resilience through community economic development. The shift in food production and distribution systems serves multiple goals: When crop loss occurs, other crops still contribute to overall harvest, reducing net loss. Diverse on-farm production can support a more distributed network of food aggregators, processors, and markets than the current approach of large-scale consolidation. Finally, a distributed food supply network supported with diverse agricultural products can increase resilience by providing access to diversified markets for producers and improved food access to consumers with more food choices, while expanding the need for skilled jobs supporting the regionally based food industry.

Cooperative Extension programs across the United States are embracing food systems and local food as a new topic area. Previous studies indicate that successful local food programming requires crossprogram collaboration. However, research in this area has underrepresented Extension educators from non-agricultural program areas, although understanding their perspectives is key to fostering

The social movement focused on re-localizing food systems is oriented toward recreating relationships between producers, consumers, and other community stakeholders. Sustaining community efforts to build local food systems requires preparation of county Extension educators to understand how food supply chains function as systems, facilitate community partnerships, and create equitable access to locally produced food. This paper shares how North Carolina Cooperative Extension designed, delivered, and evaluated a local foods in-service training on these three topics, as well as shares lessons learned through the process. The implications of this study are helpful for Extension educators planning, delivering, and evaluating in-service training programs that support development of local food systems.

A team of economic development, local foods, and tourism specialists from North Carolina Cooperative Extension is pursuing an initiative titled Fork2Farmer. The goal is to increase visits to local farms and diversify farm income by leveraging the high visibility of well-known farm-to-table chefs who support local small farms. To do this, those involved in the initiative are (a) producing and disseminating short videos about collaborative relationships between chefs and the farmers who supply their restaurants and (b) developing educational programs to facilitate agritourism microentrepreneurship and to nurture and leverage farmers' partnerships with chefs.