FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 21, 2003
Contact: Kara Keeton, Communications Director
Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy
http://agpolicy.ky.gov
(502) 564-4627

$2,897,778 Invested in Kentucky Agricultural Diversification

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, chaired by Governor Paul Patton, approved $2,897,778 in agricultural diversification projects across the Commonwealth at the monthly Board Meeting on June 20 at Duntreath Farm in Bourbon County.

Agricultural Development Fund Projects approved for funding at the June meeting include:

$250,000 Kentucky Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association

Kentucky Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association received KCADE funds to purchase a complete customized agricultural education curriculum for use in 142 agriculture programs in Kentucky's public schools. This project will assist agriculture teachers in training students in agri-science; horticulture; agribusiness management; agricultural mechanics and technology; animal, plant and soils science; and environmental resources.
 

$156,167 Purchase Area Aquaculture Cooperative

Purchase Area Aquaculture Cooperative, PAAC, received $5,000 of Graves County funds and $151,167 of State funds to expand the cold storage facilities at the processing facility in Graves County. The funds will be used to construct and equip the cold storage facility and to purchase additional distribution equipment, allowing PAAC to double the live fish production to 4,000,000 pounds per year and to use the full processing capacity of the existing plant.
 

$14,000 Anderson County Fiscal Court

Anderson County Fiscal Court received a grant of Anderson County funds to further develop the Anderson County Farmer’s Market. The funds will be used in the marketing of value-added products and locally grown products sold at the market.
 

$11,150 Owen County Chamber of Commerce

Owen County Chamber of Commerce received a grant of Owen County funds to start a county farmers market in Owen County. The funds will be used for marketing and promotional items, the purchase of 20 vendor tents, 15 tables, 15 certified scales and trash cans for the market.
 

$4,000 Jefferson County Farm Bureau

Jefferson County Farm Bureau received a grant of Jefferson County funds for support of the Ohio Valley Harvest Festival. The Festival pairs producers with restaurants, and the chefs prepare dishes, which are then sold to the public. Twenty-nine counties are represented at the festival and over the last eight years of the festival, over 109 producers have participated.
 

$1,477 Livingston County Conservation District

Livingston County Conservation District received a grant of Livingston County funds to sponsor a Progressive Farmer Farm Safety Day Camp.
 

County model programs are designed to provide farmers with cost-share funding to allow them to improve and diversify their current production practices. The agricultural diversification program is designed to assist in the transition into ten new areas of agriculture including dairy, aquaculture, and horticulture. The fencing program improves net farm income through improved pasture quantity, quality and efficient use of fencing for livestock producers.

The forage program improves pastures to allow for improved grazing by animals, reducing producer costs for feed, and improving feed quality. The cattle handling and cattle genetics programs allow for assistance to purchase equipment and animals to improve the health and profitability of cattle. The goat diversification program works to assist producers to venture into this relatively new area of agriculture in Kentucky. The hay, straw, & commodity storage program allows producers to increase the quality and marketability of products to improve the overall farm income. The on-farm water enhancement program allows producers to adopt a proactive and systematic approach to expanding existing water supplies or to develop alternative water sources. The following is a list of County model programs that were approved for funding at this meeting.

County Agricultural Diversification Programs approved by the board totaled $429,131 included:

County Fencing Improvement Programs approved by the board totaled $150,000 and included:

County Forage Improvement Programs approved by the board totaled $268,526 and included:

County Cattle Genetics Improvement Programs approved by the board totaled $199,048 and included:

Goat Diversification Programs approved by the board totaled $24,094 and included:

County Cattle Handling Programs approved by the board totaled $271,685 and included:

County Hay, Straw and Commodity Storage Programs approved by the board totaled $1,118,500 and included:

Kentucky has made a historic effort to diversify away from tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing 50% of Kentucky’s Master Settlement Agreement into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. Of this 50% allocation, 65% of the Fund is set aside for regional and statewide agricultural projects, while 35% is earmarked for individual counties on the basis of their tobacco dependence. Since the inception of the program in January 2001, the Agricultural Development Board has reviewed over 2000 proposals and approved over 1100 proposals committing over $114 million to an array of county, regional, and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises.

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