Food processing hub and Warren CC receive $980,000 grant for new center

Warren County Community College and a innovative regional hub for food processing have been awarded 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 last week.

The Northwest Food Processing and Innovation Center (NFPIC) grew from a collaboration between Warren President Will Austin and local entrepreneur and farmer Richard Cotton, 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.

“I am thrilled to deliver over $900,000 in federal funding for Warren County Community College's Agricultural Educational and Training Center," Kean said. "I toured the site with President Austin, and it is clear this is exactly the kind of strategic workforce investment our region needs.”

He noted that the facility “will serve as both a technology incubator and workforce training hub while also providing local farms with the accessible processing partner they need to thrive”.

“Ultimately, this investment will bring good-paying jobs, career opportunities, and access to fresh, locally grown food to families right here in Warren County," he said.

Austin said Cotton has been the key figure in the development of NFPIC and saw the merit of collaboration to fill a need in the farming sector and in the workforce.

“Richard Cotton and the Northwest Food Processing Innovation Center have been paving the way for the development of this facility, bringing together leaders in agriculture, government and business to create a plan that has gained this important federal support,” Austin said.

He noted that Warren’s nationally recognized drone and robotics program, and its recent move to provide precision agriculture training, puts the college in a perfect position to make this connection to NFPIC.

“Our students and those in other colleges and vocational programs at the high school level who are interested in agriculture, technology, business – including processing, marketing and distribution – and culinary science will be able to get hands-on training at this facility and move into jobs where workers are desperately needed.

The proposed center will benefit the region’s livestock producers who lack a facility to process their cows and pigs in New Jersey and must use operations in Pennsylvania that have limited capacity, Cotton said.

“This facility provides a major piece of agricultural infrastructure that has been lacking for decades,” he said. “The project is critical to the region’s agricultural and economic future and is strongly supported by the area farming community, county and municipal governments and regional colleges and vo-tech programs.”

He noted that a regional processing facility will enable farmers in the Northwest New Jersey region to expand their livestock operations or to create new operations and serve other farmers as it grows knowledge and resources about the latest ways to make farms more productive, efficient and friendly to the environment

“Lands that are currently deep tilled for corn, soybean and other commodity crops could potentially simultaneously accommodate livestock grazing, which can benefit the agriculture sector and have considerable environmental benefits, for example,” he said.

Plans call for the facility to be located in Oxford on county-owned property that was previously the site of the incinerator that was taken out of commission in 2019 and destroyed in 2024. NFPIC is working with the county to potentially use the former site of the incinerator.

Warren County Community College has been on the cutting edge of precision agriculture with its drone and robotics training through WarrenUAS and is continuing to develop agriculture and technology offerings by meshing the two to address various stages of food production.

“We will continue to find new ways to increase yields through artificial intelligence and precision agriculture, but we also must work hand-in-hand with our local agricultural producers like Richard to develop and get more product to market at competitive levels that both sustain existing farms and encourage the broadening of future opportunities,” Austin said.

Cotton said young people have long been discouraged from agricultural careers, but these new technological advances coupled with concerns about supply chain limits and climate modifications are creating a reality where farming and food production can offer exciting careers and be among our nation’s most important high-tech industries.

The new federal funding will support the first stages of the project expected to cost $10 million and eventually employ 37 workers and offer classroom space and access to the facility for students. Cotton noted that the project received $150,000 in support from the New Jersey Highlands Council and that other private and public funding streams are being explored, noting that interest in the facility has been high.

“Leaders in the region can see how this facility will benefit farmers, students and consumers, and we’ve gotten excellent feedback about the plan,” Cotton said.

The non-profit NFPIC was established by Cotton and other leaders in agriculture and business in the region to build regenerative agriculture and sustainability which allows for soil health, water conservation and biodiversity. Its focus is also on local food systems and food security along with education and training to “empower the next generation with the skills for agricultural innovation and sustainable food systems.”

It is also critical for us to build partnerships like the one with Warren County Community College and the Warren County government, which can benefit those entities and their students and constituents.

Austin says his goal is to have students graduate who understand safe and efficient robotic and AI use, coupled with the fundamentals of farming and the way the two mesh. Beyond that, through NFPIC he hopes to offer training in new ways to handle food production with new techniques – and even deliver it more efficiently.

“We have built a structure where cutting-edge research in precision agriculture can take place – where our students and people working in agriculture can find new ways to use this technology,” he says. “But I want our students to have an opportunity to access this food production and processing sector with the newest skills using the latest technology.”

Cotton, whose family has been in the county for five generations, has seen the area farmland shift over time, moving out of production as development grew and being overtaken by commodity farming that produces largely corn and soybeans as feed for animals, at facilities often located out of the region.