FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2009

Media Contact: Ana Duncan Pardo
Tel. (919) 833-8655

Farm Group Names Toxic Free NC “Non Profit of the Year”
Toxic Free North Carolina Receives the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s
2009 Non Profit of the Year Award

Raleigh, NC—Toxic Free North Carolina is the recipient of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s 2009 Non Profit of the Year Award in recognition of the organization’s ongoing work to promote sustainable agriculture in North Carolina.

“We are humbled to receive this honor from North Carolina’s organic farmers, gardeners and consumers. The award highlights our shared commitment to the future of sustainable agriculture” says Fawn Pattison, Toxic Free NC’s Executive Director.

Toxic Free NC, a statewide grassroots advocacy organization, has been working for solutions to pesticide pollution in NC since 1986. The organization's program initiatives include reducing children’s pesticide exposure in schools and daycares, reforming state policy to improve protections for agricultural communities and promoting safer alternatives to chemically intensive agriculture.

Toxic Free NC played an integral part in advocating for North Carolina’s sustainable farming industry during the 2009 legislative session. The organization worked with Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and many other partners to create a food policy council that will promote sustainable, local food in NC, and advocated for funding for the NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. Both initiatives were successful in the legislature earlier this year, and will enhance the continued growth of NC’s sustainable farming movement.

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