WAYNE COUNTY, PA — One of the main goals of the current Wayne County Commissioners is to strengthen and revitalize the county’s agricultural industry. However, a scarcity of available funding may lead the county to scale back on its plans for a multi-use agricultural facility. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in the food and farm systems throughout the nation, the county decided to come up with a plan to see what the county needs agriculturally and how it could be obtained. 

Those conversations birthed the idea of the Agricultural Innovation Center (AIC): a multi-use facility that would serve as a hub for agricultural production, distribution and consumption in Wayne County. 

The first draft concept map, created in June of 2020, shows the center being divided into various sections: Agricultural Resources, Food for Security, Food for Health, Innovation and a Green Zone. Each of these five sections would then be further divided into subsections. 

The agricultural resources section would contain processing, packaging and farmer resources. Food for Security would include distribution and housing the food pantry, and the food-for-health division would have an allergy-free kitchen and food pharmacy. A farm and food incubator, along with a classroom, would be found in Innovation. Finally, the Green Zone would include a farmers market, community gardens and greenhouses. 

All of these sections are planned to be placed in a circle around one central location called The Hub. Future plans for the AIC include a USDA livestock processing section along with mixed-use retail, restaurants and apartments.

Once the concept map was complete, the county and a few local foundations funded a feasibility study for the center. The study, which was conducted by consultants at ACDS, LLC, was accepted by the commissioners in February 2022. 

The study concluded that the AIC is feasible, but the funding required for the original concept of the center would be approximately $10 million. Although this center has support from both the community and county leadership, finding funding for a project this size has proven difficult. 

During a recent county commissioners meeting, commissioner James Shook explained that Wayne County is slightly restricted in its access to federal funding for the AIC, due to the fact that many of the county’s farms are in smaller acreage compared to those in other parts of Pennsylvania. Farms with larger acreage receive higher funding because they produce more product, he explained. 

“We are trying to find money,” commissioner Brian Smith said. “The cost is extraordinary, and the likelihood that we will come up with the amount of money to meet the current design is slim to none… We will have to look at some kind of compromise design to be able to do anything there,” he said.

Commissioner Jocelyn Cramer also brought up the topic of a compromise design. 

“We’ve gotten really good at pivoting when our first option doesn’t necessarily come through,” Cramer said. “So what the final version looks like, I’m not sure, but we still need a food pantry location—the county really needs that—so we’ll still continue to chase funding.” 

Cramer also explained that the commissioners like to set the bar high, so that if the original plan does not work out they still have a good end result. 

Although plans for the AIC have stalled, the county is still very much pushing forward with another initiative to strengthen the agricultural industry. 

One of the newest programs of Wayne Tomorrow! is the AgroLegacy program. This program will work with local farms to label their goods, thus certifying that food and agricultural products are grown or raised on farms in Wayne County. To learn more about the AgroLegacy program, visit www.agrolegacy.org.