The Nash County Farmers Market off Peachtree Road in Rocky Mount is getting a major expansion, with plans for a permanent general store, a commercial kitchen and a community garden after securing $308,000 in state funding. Market manager Maureen Brown says the general store is expected to open in spring 2027, though she has not finalized its specifics, and it is not yet confirmed whether the store will operate year-round.
State Funding Breaks Down Into Specific Projects
N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes helped secure the $308,000 in state funding for the expansion, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram. Of that total, $10,000 is dedicated to the market's Double Bucks EBT-matching program and $8,000 will go toward repairs and painting on Building 2, with the remaining funds earmarked for the general store, the commercial kitchen and the community garden, per Explore Nash County. Barnes represents Senate District 11, covering Nash, Franklin and Vance counties, and said local farmers can sell their goods at the market. She has also said the farmers market is part of her family's heritage.
Barnes serves as co-chair of the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee, according to her North Carolina General Assembly biography. Barbara Green called the expansion a big win for Nash County and Rocky Mount and plans to promote it, while Heather Glennon said the project is wonderful for Nash County agriculture and its farmers, per the Telegram's report.
Commercial Kitchen and Garden Tied to Rocky Mount Mills
The planned commercial kitchen will create opportunities for educational programs, cooking demonstrations and other food-related events, the market's operators say. Brown plans to partner with the Rocky Mount Mills commercial and residential development, and residents there will have access to the new community garden, which is planned for a site across the street from the market. The market sits roughly 0.2 miles from Rocky Mount Mills, a redeveloped 19th-century cotton mill complex along the Tar River that now includes mill worker cottages, craft breweries and restaurants, according to Expedia. The mill closed its textile operations in 1996 before undergoing adaptive-reuse redevelopment starting in 2016.
The market currently operates Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April through October and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. November through December. During June, July and August, it also opens Tuesday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., according to the N.C. Cooperative Extension. The planned general store is expected to operate during daytime hours Tuesday through Friday once it opens.
Double Bucks Program Meets Local Need
The Double Bucks program, which helps people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, is entering its seventh season, and the new state funding will help support it. That support matters locally: roughly 20% of Nash County households received SNAP benefits in 2022, a rate notably higher than the statewide average, according to the Nash County Health Department's 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment. The market's oversight extends beyond funding, too — the market manager conducts on-farm inspections of participating growers under policies managed by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Nash County Center, ensuring farmers only sell what they personally produce.
Sandy Hall, the Northeast District Extension director, hired Brown and previously served as director of Cooperative Extension in Nash County. Hall now provides leadership for Cooperative Extension employees across 22 counties in a region stretching from Wake County to the Outer Banks. Brown also serves as a board member of a statewide network of farmers market managers. The Nash County Farmers Market opened in 2005 and was expanded a few years later, according to the Telegram.
Part of a Broader Push for Food Access
The expansion builds on a longer trajectory of local and federal efforts to connect Rocky Mount residents with fresh, local food. The city was selected in 2015 for the federal Local Foods, Local Places technical assistance program, co-sponsored by the USDA and EPA, to build an action plan linking local produce with urban health and redevelopment goals, according to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. That initiative brought together regional health departments, extension agents and planners.
Regional nonprofit Ripe for Revival also received a $50,000 grant in August to expand mobile grocery buses equipped with demonstration kitchens serving food-insecure communities in Nash and neighboring eastern North Carolina counties, per the Camber Foundation. The nonprofit buys excess crops from local growers and sells them on the buses using a pay-what-you-can model.
Agriculture's Weight in Nash County and Beyond
The expansion also reflects the broader economic footprint of farming in the region. The 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture recorded 425 farms spanning 129,478 acres in Nash County, generating more than $191 million in market value of agricultural products sold, according to NC State Extension. Nash County farms have historically focused on row crops but have increasingly diversified into produce and hydroponics.
Statewide, North Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for agricultural product sales at $18.7 billion annually, with agriculture contributing more than $110 billion to the state economy, per Land & Farm Resources NC. State lawmakers have frequently targeted agricultural grants toward preserving rural farming infrastructure, a pattern reflected in the funding secured for Rocky Mount's market. For questions about the project, Telegram reporter William F. West can be reached at (252) 366-8126 or [email protected].
