The Eastern Marketing Center is located in the heart of North Carolina's most productive farmland. While parts of this region have always been known for their sweet potatoes and other vegetables, it has the potential to expand into an important supplier of many specialty fruit and vegetable crops.
Nick Augostini, Marketing Specialist, provides marketing assistance to growers, packer/shippers, and buyers in developing new markets, locating buyers and suppliers, market research, and conducting marketing promotions.
The Eastern Marketing Center works closely with the Alternative Crops Diversification Committee and the Specialty Crops Center in developing new horticultural crops that can be successfully grown and marketed from eastern N.C.
The North Carolina Specialty Crops Program (SCP) was initiated in 1997 to identify and develop new agricultural commodities and value-added products for the 13 counties in eastern North Carolina. In 2001, a GoldenLEAF Foundation grant allowed the program to expand statewide. The SCP is a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and NC State University. These two agencies are working together to develop new crops and products, to increase the profitability of agriculture, and to reduce production and marketing risks to the grower.
The strategic plan of the SCP is to identify a potential new crop; conduct the field research to find the best varieties to grow and the most efficient way to produce it; create a post-harvest handling and packaging system for it, and then research and develop markets for it.
One of the keys to success for the SCP is that the marketing research is initiated at the same time as the crop production research.
Products from the field and greenhouse research are used in marketing programs, led by the Marketing Specialist, Nick Augostini. These include promotional events, taste tests, consumer surveys, and test-marketing sales with cooperating chain stores.
One of the program’s most recent successes was the development of the “Sprite” melon. In 2005 over 250 acres of this oriental crisp flesh melon were grown in eastern North Carolina and marketed throughout the U.S.; sales of the melons reached over $3 million. The success of the ‘Sprite” is a direct result of the research trials, demonstrations, market development and educational programs provided by the SCP.
Current research includes identifying and developing new melon varieties for eastern NC growers, continuing development of select forest botanicals for western NC landowners, refining lettuce production in both eastern and western NC, evaluating heirloom and new disease resistant heirloom type tomatoes in organic and conventional production systems, and continuing development of beans packaged in microwaveable bags.
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