Hillsborough food center set to open next year

An official ground breaking ceremony commemorated a space that could soon revolutionize the way area farms do business.

The Piedmont Food & Agricultural Processing Center, a business incubator that will serve 22 counties, hosted the ceremony Wednesday in Hillsborough.

Although the space is not projected to open until March 2011, donors, area leaders and residents gathered inside the unfinished building to celebrate the center and the possibilities it offers.

“The center will encourage small businesses and give current farmers opportunities to diversify,” said N.C. Rep. Dan Ingle, R-Alamance.

In recent years, Ingle said farms have been split up into smaller, less productive lots.

“This center will encourage farms to grow on their land again,” he said.

Tim MacAllen is one Orange County farmer who plans to use the new center’s equipment, which will be installed in the coming months.

“We hope to sell processed goods we couldn’t sell before because they weren’t approved,” he said. “But at this facility, it can be inspected and approved by the (U.S. Department of Agriculture).”

Along with providing food certification, the center will also offer users classes on starting food-based businesses and equipment that would otherwise be too expensive.

This equipment includes walk-in coolers, freezers, bottle fillers, ovens and meat grinders. The basic hourly rental fee is $25.

Several local, state and federal donors — like the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, the Golden Leaf Foundation and Rural Advancement Foundation International’s (RAFI) Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund — provided the $1.2 million needed to fund the center.

“RAFI will provide pasteurizers and juicers that could get very expensive, too expensive for one business,” said Andy Zeman, owner of Benjamin Vineyards and Winery in Saxapahaw. “But it became more affordable when we came together.”

Zeman said the center will be beneficial for local consumers and business owners because the area is big supporter of locally-grown foods.

Orange County’s Agricultural Economic Development Coordinator Noah Ranells said the expansion of small businesses and farms is the center’s main goal.

“We are a business incubator,” Ranells said. “We want to give people the initial steps for food businesses.”

The center, which will initially be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, is organized so that between one and 10 businesses can work in the center at any given time.

“We are hoping the facility will be used during morning hours, night hours and on weekends,” Ranells said. “It’s our job to make this place as available as possible.”

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