New Ag Center offers something for everyone

ASHEBORO — It’s about more than just farmers and field crops and dairy cows and chicken houses.

The Randolph County Agricultural Center, scheduled to open this fall, will offer a little something for everyone. That is, if you care about food safety, the environment, conservation, youth development, computer skills, or even a nice place to hold your high school reunion.

On Aug. 18, Taylor Wright, Ag Center coordinator, and Amy Rudisill, Randolph County public information officer, organized a discussion group to talk about what will be offered at the spanking-new 104-acre facility on East Dixie Drive in Asheboro.

Taylor said the group would “focus on how the community can engage the resources. I think of the Ag Center as a campus housing three county departments — Cooperative Extension, Soil & Water Conservation and the Ag Center.

“The main objective (of the Ag Center as a separate entity) is to facilitate events not affiliated with Cooperative Extension and Soil & Water but to rent facilities to the public. And it doesn’t have to be agriculture-related. We’ll connect people that need spaces.”

Cooperative Extension (CE) and Soil & Water Conservation (S&W) will have their offices in the Ag Center. And as a result, they’ll have access to much more than they’ve ever had.

Lauren Langley, Randolph County CE director as well as equine and poultry agent, explained that her agency is a division of the land-grant universities of NC State and NC A&T State. It’s their way of bringing research to local communities.

“We provide education, free or low-cost, and agents who cover almost anything,” Langley said.

Under CE’s specialists come:

■ 4-H, providing programs for youth ages 5-18.

■ Horticulture for those with lawns and gardens or commercial enterprises.

■ Field crops.

■ Livestock.

■ Family consumer science.

■ Digital skills.

■ Local food systems.

“They all have programs now but the new center will augment them,” Langley said. For instance, there will be a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen with an overhead camera for better viewing, and cooking stations for a “better experience to learn.”

The Digital Skills Lab will provide training in computers, from the beginner on up. It will include plug-ins for those with their own devices.

Horticulture will have a gardener lab classroom with roll-up doors for indoor or outdoor training. There will be a greenhouse and raised garden beds for ease of teaching. A plant lab will have a refrigerator to keep samples.

As for field crops and livestock, a large field behind the buildings can be used to grow demonstration crops or to have animals on-site for teaching.

Leading into the facility along the drive will be orchard trees. Fruit from those trees will be available for training in cooking, canning and other uses. Langley imagined that the orchard and its produce “could inspire some to get into the food business.”

In the poultry section, there will be a poultry processing class and equipment for rental to farmers. After learning how to process poultry, they have the option to rent the equipment to process their chickens (normally fewer than 1,000 in number) to sell directly to consumers.

There will also be livestock handling equipment for rent after the farmer takes a class on their use. Langley said, “Equipment can be a barrier for small farmers (because of the high cost).” But rentals could allow them to produce and harvest crops within a budget.

Sophie Farlow, Local Food Systems agent, will help oversee the Food Hub at the Ag Center, a “year-round online marketplace.”

The Food Hub will operate with a website platform. Farmers will be able to upload their products for sale on the website with set prices. Customers will scan the list of items from various farmers and load their “shopping carts” to send in their orders. They will also see profiles of the farmers and get to know them.

From the orders, individual farmers will be sent a list of their products ordered by customers, pull those products and deliver them to the Food Hub. Representatives there — some may be volunteers — will sort out the products for the individual customers to pick up. 

“It’s a way to connect consumers with where their food comes from,” Farlow said. “And they can purchase from multiple farms. It’s an opportunity for really small farmers to sell their products with low risk.”

Asked about possible competition with local farmers markets, Farlow said, “We want to work together with farmers markets, to work hand-in-hand with them.” She suggested that a farmer could take the produce to a farmers market then bring the leftovers to the Food Hub.

Another initiative of the Food Hub is to address food insecurity in the community and to reduce food waste. Farlow said there will be distribution centers across the county in the future. 

“To increase local food access,” Farlow said, “the Food Hub hopes to have Doubleup Food Bucks, which takes federal nutrition benefits, such as SNAP, and allows purchase of products at 50 percent off.”

The Ag Center will include two commercial kitchens, which will be completely isolated from each other. These will be shared-use facilities to “allow people to expand their food businesses. They will meet all state and local regulations.”

For instance, a caterer could rent a kitchen, if approved by Randolph County Environmental Health. Rental will be hourly and open during regular business hours, Monday to Friday. Farlow said, however, that they could do special requests for after hours. She hopes that can evolve into 24/7.

Both kitchens will have a freezer and refrigerator for food storage rentals. Anyone using the facilities must go through an application process and orientation that includes a walkthrough.

Jessica Davis is an environmental educator and support coordinator for S&W. She said there are two environmental educators, one environmental specialist and a part-time engineer. They are overseen by a board of supervisors, three of whom are elected with two more appointed by the state commission.

“The board approves cooperator contracts and establishes local soil and water priorities,” Davis said. The technical support assists farmers and landowners in implementing “best management practices to conserve valuable soil, improve water quality and increase water availability,” Davis said. “Soil & Water also develops a conservation plan for farmers to participate in the Voluntary Agricultural District.”

Moving to the Ag Center will allow S&W “to hold training so farmers can see (methods) in action” in the field and pasture. “We will collaborate with Cooperative Extension.”

As an outreach, S&W holds a farmer appreciation dinner every year. Now they’ll have a central location at the Event Center. During the dinners, farmers get instruction about farmland preservation, soil and water programs and recognize a Conservation Farm Family, Davis said.

Available through S&W are no-till drill rentals and spreaders. 

The two S&W educators do school and adult programs and use a mobile soils classroom, a converted ambulance, to take to festivals and career fairs.

“At the Ag Center we will be able to host field days to educate students throughout the county about different environmental ag topics and careers,” Davis said. “With classroom space we will be able to host teacher workshops and other education programs in a central location in the county.

“The Ag Center will be advantageous for us. Our overall goal is to not be the best-kept secret and be more visible to the public as a valuable resource.”

Davis provided a quote from Carrie Guess-Slotosky, Randolph Soil & Water Conservation District board supervisor and treasurer: “I am very excited to have space in Randolph County that’s more visible to the public. The building and land set aside for its purpose will be an awesome reminder of how supported we are by our local leadership and government. We are passionate to continue conservation efforts in NC and the responsibilities entrusted to us here at home. We are thankful to have this building and proud to serve those who walk through its doors.”