As a 2025 Summer Field School Fellow, Julia Card ’27 worked with the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Madison County to explore the feasibility of opening shared-use kitchen spaces for local farmers. Her research project, supported by the Upstate Institute, focused on assessing community needs while also navigating the complexities of commercial food licensing and facility planning.
Card’s research aims to make it easier for farmers to process and package their goods locally — an effort made all the more urgent following the 2024 closure of a once-critical shared-use facility at Nelson Farms in Cazenovia, N.Y.
“Before it closed, Nelson Farms was supporting around 25 producers who were using it regularly,” says Card. “The need for a new space has since emerged.”
To explore the development of new kitchens, Card began by compiling literature on shared-use kitchens and studying the regulations surrounding New York’s 20-C Food Processing Establishment licenses. She quickly identified one major challenge.
“To apply for a license,” Card says, “applicants must specify how their kitchen will be used — but without confirmed users, that information can be difficult to provide.”
To help bridge that gap, Card conducted outreach to local farmers to learn how they might use a shared commercial kitchen and what equipment would be most helpful. "At the moment, there aren’t any spaces that can do everything,” she says. “So we’re thinking about specialization: one facility might be ideal for bottling, another for freezing and packaging.”
When farmers expressed interest in specific kinds of facilities, Card connected them with a potential applicant to help both parties strengthen their cases. These connections may ultimately inform the design, equipment choices, and licensing applications for future kitchen sites.
Card’s final deliverable will be a comprehensive needs assessment outlining the types of facilities most in demand, the most viable locations, and the timelines communities can expect for kitchen development.
“My report will hopefully serve as a centralized resource, highlighting not just the demand, but also the feasibility and next steps for building out these kitchens in Madison County,” she says.