The work focuses too on helping farmers sell their products.

Kirk Wilson meanwhile oversees Polk Fresh Foods, which connects local producers with markets in Charlotte, Asheville and Greenville. Others have helped to bolster the four community farmer markets in Columbus, Mill Spring, Saluda and Tryon. They’ve increased participation at the market in Columbus from a handful of vendors to more than 50 most weekends in Columbus.

“The surge is part of people being concerned about healthy, local food,” Sprague said. “We’re riding that surge. It is a trendy thing right now but that is what has captured the general public.”

Capturing the general public’s attention also attracts volunteers. For the ag center those numbers have reached about 1,000 over the past three years.

AmeriCorps member Laura Brookshire has worked at the ag center for the past two years. She said the center grabs attention globally as well.

“We have people all over the world who have liked our facebook page – so there are people all over the world interested in what we are doing here and who support it,” said Brookshire.

Carol Lynn Jackson stood up during the breakfast to ask commissioners and other decision makers where they saw the program heading in the future.

Commission chair Michael Gage answered by saying he’s been working hard to better educate himself about the role of agriculture in Polk County.

“When I got elected I knew very little about farming … I’ve been getting up to speed, asking a lot of questions and that may have upset a lot of people when I asked those questions, but I’ve got to know the real deal,” Gage said. “I’ve asked Lynn (Sprague) some tough questions … but I support farming and I want to make sure we do whatever we’ve got to do to make it successful in Polk County.”