Area community colleges to host forum supporting beef production

A forum designed to strengthen the market for beef regionally and improve the production infrastructure and investment opportunities for the product across the state, is being co-sponsored this month by Warren County Community College, featuring New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn and other business and agriculture sector leaders.

The forum will be held April 29 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the campus of Sussex County Community College in Newton, which is co-sponsoring of the event.

"I am pleased to be a part of efforts like this where regional leaders collaborate and support New Jersey agriculture, which is such a critical driver of our state economy and so important in the lives of the residents of these regions,” said state Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn. “It is even more powerful to see our great community colleges involved, linking the farming community to educators and to students getting the latest skills that we need in agriculture.”

Other participants include: Sussex County Commissioners Jack DeGroot, who will serve as moderator; James Oehmke, chairman of Economics and Agriculture Development at Rutgers University; Richard Cotton, founder and chairman of Northwest New Jersey Food Processing and Innovation Center; Steve Komar, associate professor at Rutgers and head of the county Extension Department; Emily Bowden, executive officer of the Sussex County Chamber of Realtors; and Tammie Horsfield of the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce.

“This is a great opportunity to align the great work that is being done to strengthen agriculture in the region and also pave the way for new initiatives,” said Warren President Will Austin. “It benefits our farmers, our economy, our citizens and also our students at Warren who can learn about the exciting new developments in beef production and explore opportunities for jobs in the industry.”

Joseph Labarbera, director for Warren’s Center for Agriculture and Economic Development, said the forum is designed to spark new growth in the beef cattle sector and highlight efforts underway to create an infrastructure to support it.

“Officials in both counties and at the two colleges understand that agriculture is a key in the region, and beef production is an important part of that sector,” Labarbera said. “We have recognized its role and have been working to provide support to new efforts to grow the industry, which also allows our students to take advantage of the opportunities in the field. This is one more way we can provide support.”

Warren County Community College has been deeply involved with Cotton and his efforts to build an innovative regional hub for food processing, which recently received a a nearly $980,000 federal grant for a sophisticated facility that will train workers in the use of the farming sector’s latest technology and techniques, while supporting and growing the agriculture industry in the region.

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker gave their support to the grant for the food processing facility as it first was imagined by college and community leaders, and now the funding has been included in appropriations requested by Kean and approved by President Trump.

The Northwest Food Processing and Innovation Center (NFPIC), which is heading the effort to develop the hub, grew from a collaboration between Austin and Cotton, a local entrepreneur and farmer, who has been a leader in finding ways to make the rich northwest New Jersey farmland even more valuable with new thinking about agriculture, technology and social trends.

The two wanted to find new ways to train workers for jobs of the future by providing training in the latest cutting-edge technology – while supporting the farmers and agriculture industry in the region.

Topics at the April forum include:

• beef profitability vs. competing crop markets

• retail incentives and direct-to-producer models

• infrastructure for processing and distribution

• farmland investment and agricultural development

• policy, regulation, and legislative pathways

• perspectives from industry and elected leaders

The event is free and open to the public, and sponsorship opportunities are available, with proceeds going to scholarship funds at the two sponsoring colleges. More information is available from Labarbera at 908-835-2323; jlabarbera@warren.edu.

Sussex County Community College is located at 1 College Hill Rd in Newton.