Harnett County Cooperative Extension celebrated the reopening of the Educational Kitchen with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, May 14 at the Harnett County Agriculture Center.

The renovation was made possible through a $130,000 grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission (NCTTFC), secured by Harnett County Cooperative Extension.

“We trained volunteers from all across the state, extension employees at 4H Congress, and volunteers at the leadership conference how to do these programs. Now we’re starting to lay out the design for these programs. We have a need for an Educational Kitchen,” said Jackie Helton, Harnett County 4-H agent.

The Educational Kitchen plays a key role in supporting NC farmers. This initiative will provide farmers with two professional videos — one cooking video highlighting their crops and another showcasing their farm, story, and products.

This initiative is intended to help farmers expand their market and grow their businesses through digital media.

“We have a lot of creative farmers in Harnett County that are growing a lot of diversified crops,” said Bill Teague, NCTTFC Executive Director. “What they need to do is have an opportunity like this kitchen to demonstrate how to cook those products and get more consumers to go out and try what the Harnett County farmers grow.”

The newly renovated kitchen is a long-term investment that will benefit Harnett County residents for years to come. Shannon Adcock, the current Family and Consumer Sciences Agent, plans to expand programming for both the general public and food industry professionals. Upcoming classes will explore a variety of topics, including food safety, food preservation, healthy cooking, bread making, and more.

“I can tell you we have kids with better knife skills than most adults. Because they never learned the correct way to do it,” said Jackie Helton, Harnett County 4-H agent.

This initiative will also serve the youth of Harnett County and strengthens youth development programs such as 4-H Farm to Fork. Former Family and Consumer Sciences Director, Greg Huneycutt County (now Extension Director of Hoke County) and Helton have spearheaded the effort to increase the capacity of Extension offices to host Farm to Fork Camps.

Part of their efforts included partnering with the Extension offices to create videos and host virtual sessions during the 2020 pandemic.

That early success of videos and virtual programming laid the foundation for securing the $130,000 grant from the NCTTF in 2023 to fund and remodel the Education Kitchen. Cooperative Extension will now have the necessary equipment to produce higher-quality videos.

Ceremony guests included the Executive Director of the NCTTFC, William Upchurch, South Central District Extension Director, Keith Walters, Harnett County Government administrators, local farmers, and 4-H members.

A presentation during the ribbon cutting ceremony highlighted the positive impact the Education Kitchen has already had on the community and the opportunities ahead with the newly renovated facility.