News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2003
Contact: Kara Keeton, Communications Director
Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy
(502) 564-4627

Fencing and Water Enhancement: New ways to utilize county Tobacco Settlement Funds

The Agricultural Development Board approved two new model cost-share programs at the March Board meeting: Farm Livestock Fencing Improvement and On-farm Water Enhancement.

The Farm Livestock Fencing Improvement Program is designed to improve net farm income through improved pasture quantity, quality and efficient use for livestock producers.

The On-Farm Water Enhancement Program is designed to allow farmers the ability to adopt a proactive and systematic approach to expand existing water supplies or to develop alternative water sources.

The model cost-share programs are developed by the Agricultural Development Board to allow individual producers on the local level to utilize tobacco settlement funds that are allocated for each county. The approval of the Fencing and On-Farm Water Enhancement Programs make a total of eight model cost-share programs counties can apply to for funding. The other six programs include: Agricultural Diversification Program, Forage Improvement and Utilization Program, Cattle Genetics Improvement Program, Cattle Handling Improvement Program, Goat Diversification Program, and the Hay, Straw and Commodity Program.

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. To date Kentucky has invested over $106 million to an array of county, regional, and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises. The Bracken County project represent just one of the over 950 projects that have been funded through Agricultural Development Fund, since the inception of the program in January 2001.

For more information regarding model cost-share programs contact the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy at (502) 564-4627 or visit our web site at agpolicy.ky.gov .

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