Extension
It Starts With Us
Author: Timothy Stombaugh
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
With societal interest in natural products, hemp and kenaf are being considered heavily by Kentucky farmers. For these crops to be viable, there has to be a way to harvest the plant products and transport them to processing facilities. In principle, commonly available hay equipment should work for these crops; however, these fibrous crops are very difficult to handle and they cause many problems with current machinery. Extension personnel are working with KY farmers and fiber p
Author: Paul Sizemore
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Farm diversification has become a must to compete in the ever changing market place of agriculture. Owsley County Cooperative Extension Service conducted a workshop to help farmers diversify their operations and find resources to assist in developing infrastructure at their operations. Owsley County Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Kentucky Sate Small Farm Program worked with farmers to obtain High Tunnels and other Projects that would help them to Diversify. As
Author: Jessica Barnes
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Helped with a Progressive Ag Safety Day for all of the fourth grade students in Harrison County Schools. We had 13 different stations for the fourth graders to rotate through throughout the day including fire safety, tractor safety, water safety, electric safety, ATV safety, and much more. There were approximately 220 kids that were at the safety day event and all of them said they learned something new that day that they had not previously been taught. This event is an annual event
Author: Darold Akridge
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Local farmers often stress over the lack of younger people interested in agriculture as a career.This agent listened to concerns of the clients and Ag Council and strived to be involved in projects that brought youth and agriculture together. For the past 24 years, the agent has participated with the 4-H Land Judging at the Kentucky State Fair. This past year, he was able to gain the cooperation of Bernheim Forest in Bullitt County to provide a site for the event.This year there were
Author: Corinne Belton
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Shelby County is home to more than 40,000 residents within its 386 square miles. As a neighbor to Kentucky's largest population center, Louisville, current Extension agriculture/horticulture programming seeks to inform the public and enhance the sustainability of agriculture as Shelby County faces the continued challenges of a growing urban-rural interface. An additional programming focus is to increase the visibility and relevance of Extension to an expanding audience of increas
Author: Chris Ammerman
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Animal agriculture is the last stable agriculture industry left in Grant County and it is currently facing a large amount of scrutiny from the consumers in the grocery store aisle. Bad actors caught on camera and broadcast across the nation have painted the entire animal agriculture industry in a bad light.The Grant County Farm Bureau Federation and the Grant County Extension Service partnered together to educate our friends and neighbors about the negatives and the opposition that the ind
Author: Jason Phillips
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture will continue to face many challenges both presently and in the future. A decreasing portion of the population has exposure to agriculture and how their food is produced. This certainly creates misconceptions and lack of education about food production in the United States. Long-term this will most certainly lead to increasing political and social challenges for agriculture. Amid these challenges, it is projected that current agricultural production must doubl
Author: Andy Mills
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The purpose of the Meade County Ag Field Day is to educate farmers and landowners on improved agricultural practices that are economical and safe to man as well as the environment. Mead County has a tradition of holding a field day on a local farm and producers expect the Extension Office to implement it. For many years now the Meade County Extension Office collaborates with the Meade County Conservation District and the Natural Resource and Conservation Service to plan and host an Ag Fiel
Author: Michelle Simon
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
It is an echoing response from all agricultural communities- youth need to learn about agriculture to appreciate agriculture, we need to do our part to educate youth and involve them in agriculture to secure the future of farmers. The majority of Scott County youth are separated from the farm by three generations. These youth don’t have the opportunity to spend the weekend at their grandparents farm to learn the responsibility of caring for livestock and crops or even raising vegetables in
Author: Nicholas Carter
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Increasing the visibility and presence of Agriculture at the Lion’s Club Bluegrass Fair has been a priority of the Agriculture Advisory Council, Fayette County 4-H Council, Fayette County Extension Council, and the Lexington Lions Club since 2007. Extension Leaders, Volunteers, Agents, Locust Trace Agriculture Teachers, Fayette County Farm Bureau, and members of the Lexington Lions Club have worked together to make this a successful venture. This collaboration has increased the number of e
Author: Bethany Pratt
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Goal number eighteen in the Louisville Metro Government Mayor’s Strategic Plan is “Increase diversion of solid waste generated by Jefferson County sent to local landfills from 49% in 2012 to 90% by 2042 at a rate of 7% every five years.” In order to educate the general public about this plan and encourage solid waste diversion, The Jefferson County Horticulture Agent partnered with Louisville MetroGoverment’s Division of Solid Waste Educator to host two composting worksho
Author: Stacy White
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
~~The Bell County Agriculture Council’s annual Farm Field Day was held on September 1, 2017. The ANR Agent coordinated the field day and facilitated programs throughout the day. Educational programs presented during the day by various volunteers from the community covered farm machinery safety, chainsaw safety, rabies surveillance, feral hog management, UK physics zoo, and forage testing. Activities just for fun included pig chasing contests, pony rides, train rides, and a petting zoo. Coo
Author: Vicki Shadrick
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Farm management relies heavily on realizing the costs of production, proper management and utilization of technology, techniques and research. For the second year agriculture and natural resource agents from Hopkins, Muhlenberg and Webster counties have worked cooperatively with the Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation to plan and host the Roots to Riches Agri-preneurial Conference in hopes of promoting increased risk management as well as providing a one-stop shop for lo
Author: Allison Lewis
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety reported in 2016 that every day about 33 children are injured in agriculture-related accidents and every three days, a child dies in an agriculture-related incident. Among household youth on farms, injury rates increased in 2014 for youth 10-19 years. From 2003 to 2010, among workers younger than 16 years, the number of worker fatalities in agriculture were consistently higher than in all non-agricultural indu
Author: Kara Back
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
There have been some producers in Taylor County who recently began the process of becoming certified organic. One producer has a dairy, and the other is growing organic forage crops. One of the producers stressed an importance of obtaining knowledge before and during the process would have been beneficial to him. The horticulture agent collaborated with him, the Taylor County ANR agent, and the Green and Adair ANR Agents in the development of an organic conference to educate individuals interest
Author: Shad Baker
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The Letcher County Extension Service has been an early promoter of the maple syrup industry in Kentucky. Those efforts have paid off with multiple producers of differing scales becoming producers. This year one of our producers made significant investments in increasing the size of his operation. Along with purchasing an evaporator and doubling the amount of tubing in his woodlands, he invested in the construction of a substantial sugaring house. This was spurred along based on the information h
Author: Chuck Flowers
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The future of Agriculture, with 81 per cent of the land in crop production, Agriculture is a driving force in Carlisle County. 34,054,000 dollars of crop revenue is sold on the average each year in the county. From 2015 to 2020 26,700 annual jobs openings will be available in agriculture according to CNBC. To keep agriculture in the lime light the Carlisle County Extension Service hosted an Agriculture Day for Carlisle County third grade students. The students were divided into smaller groups an
Author: Evan Tate
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Each year farmer's enter grain bins during clean out , many without safety gear. Furthermore, most of the grain bins in the region are older and lack some of the manufacturer safety features that are common today. Additionally many first responders including volunteer firefighters are removed from the farm and have never been inside grain storage faciliites. Therefore, The Hancock County Cooperative Extension Service partnered with the Hancock County Farm Bureau, Hancock County F
Author: Paul Sizemore
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
With the increased numbers of clientele wanting to preserve their own food and to bring back heritage commodities, The Owsley County Cooperative Extension Service offered a Country Ham Curing class. Based on the high amount of questions and curiosity from adults, the agents joined to offer “curing country hams” workshops for adults and Youth. Over the last two years a total of 44 adults and 12 youth have participated in the workshops. Owsley County adults reminisced about their grand
Author: Mattea Mitchell
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Kentucky Soybean Board educates students about soybeans and gives them samples to carry home!Students learn about the origin of sheep and goats and about their market. Hickman County 3rd and 4th grade wave to a UAV as it flies overhead to film students. According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, Hickman County had 298 farm operations on 141,131 acres representing 91% of the county's total land. Total value of crop sales were $56,841 and animal sales were $102,398. Hickman County
Author: Paul Vincelli
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Greatly increased knowledge of risks and benefits of GMO technology among 17 scientists and graduate students at the University of Puerto RIco, through a 2.5-day intensive workshop in June 2018. Participants agreed strongly (4.9 out of scale of 1 to 5.) that the workshop expanded their thinking and changed their minds about genetic engineering.
Author: Don Sorrell
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
After a very successful fall 2016 Homesteading and Farm Start program, and based on the program surveys, the request for additional financial support and direction was identified as a need by the beginning farmers. To address this need, the Campbell County ANR agent developed two programs to address opportunities for financial assistance: Ag Organizations and Beginning Farmer Grant Program.The Ag Organizations program was developed to give beginning farmers an opportunity to understand the
Author: Gary Hamilton
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Forages and Beef Cattle are the staple crops of the Gateway Area farm economy. Over the past 8 years the ANR agents in Bath and Montgomery County’s have gathered producer input, planned and implemented Regional Agricultural Commodity Night Programs to focus on these and the current issues facing each. This year we included Nicholas and Fleming Counties and 63 producers attended and gained knowledge from information presented by specialist from the University of Kentucky and others. Produce
Author: Jeffrey Casada
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
House Bill 611 and the implementation of the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement has allocated nearly $2.4 million over a 17 year period for use in the re-structuring of Clay County Agriculture to alleviate financial problems caused by dependency on tobacco income. Access to capital is always among the top barriers preventing producers from venturing into new enterprises. The Clay County Agriculture Development Council has been instrumental in assisting producer’s transition si
Author: Clay Stamm
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Kentucky is home to 85,500 farms, tied with Oklahoma as the 4th ranking state in the number of farms (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2012). The average farm size in Kentucky is 164 acres, compared to the national average of 421 (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2012). Between 2007 and 2012, the Bluegrass State had a 6.7% decrease in the number of acres of farmland, which is the greatest percentage decrease any state in the country (Census of Agriculture, 2012). While Kentucky
Author: David Appelman
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Expanding the Impact of Tobacco Cost Share FundsBracken County has greatly benefitted from the Phase I Cost Share Programs over the last 16 years.Bracken County, due to our tobacco dependency, has received higher payments which producers have invested in various programs at the maximum level for the past 16 year. With a reduction in overall funds the state received, Bracken County faced a drastic scenario that would affect the number of producers that could receive funds unless change
Author: Heather Graham
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The Breathitt County ANR Agent and Wolfe County ANR Agent teamed up to present an 11 part series, "Homesteading, Learning to Live off Your Land." The series began in March 2017 and ended in January 2018. Topics covered included: raised bed gardening; composting; rain barrel workshop; foraging; canning/preserving; cheese making; home butchering; salt preservation; bread/butter making; honeybees; and backyard poultry. The series was met with a lot of community enthusiasm. The most popula
Author: Sharon Flynt
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Ed Davis Youth Farm Camp is a partnership program of the local Extension Horticulture Program and Scott C. Parks and Recreation’s Ed Davis Learning Center. The goal is to provide a motivating agriculture experiences for minority urban and suburban youth far removed from agricultural environment. This year the camp focused on increasing awareness of sustainable agriculture practices and economic diversity. Youth were engaged in such activities as visiting the Kentucky State University
Author: Jason Phillips
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
2017 marked the 3rd Annual Agriculture Appreciation Breakfast which is held to raise awareness of National Farm-City Week in Simpson County. This event was presented by the Simpson County Extension Service in conjunction with the Simpson County Farm Bureau Federation, the Franklin-Simpson Chamber of Commerce and local farmers. It is held in November during National Farm-City week in downtown Franklin at the Franklin First United Methodist Church. This breakfast serves as an opp
Author: Chadwick Conway
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Throughout the year, the Knott County Agricultural & Natural Resource (ANR) Agent, conducts several different programs with a various range of audiences. During these meetings and interactions with clients they complete a survey to give their thoughts on how to improve the current program and give ideas for new programs. The agent gains a numerous amount of feedback from these surveys. After reviewing past surveys and verbally discussing with clients on what they would want for a program, se
Author: Myron Evans
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
When The Tobacco Phase I Cost Share Program was enacted in 2004, non profit organizations were solicited in each county to administer the Tobacco Phase I Cost Share Program know as CAIP today. The Carter County Agriculture Advancement Council stepped up and volunteered to administer the program in Carter County. The Council has met almost monthly for the last 14 years to administer the program. In 2017, the council administered $130,000 to 46 producers in Carter County. This meant that $260,000
Author: Kathryn Wimberley
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
SITUATION: Forage and Livestock management are vital to Kentucky’s Agricultural economy. As livestock margins tighten, management strategies that enhance forage productivity, utilization and persistence along with efforts to optimize animal performance will improve long-term viability of forage-based livestock systems in the state.In July of 2017, the McCracken County Agent for Horticulture began to cover the needs of the local farmers. With the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR)
Author: Douglas Shepherd
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
In March and April 2017 several regional cattlemen's associations shipped numerous loads of hay, feed, fencing, posts, etc. to Protection, KS in a wildfire relief effort. One of our leaders happened to visit a livestock equipment booth at the National Farm Machinery Show in February 2018, looking for additional and specialized livestock handling equipment for our new Livestock Events Center that was under construction at the time. Just so happened the booth visited was Filson Liv
Author: David Embrey
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Edmonson County is a very rural, sparsely populated county and a large percentage of that population works outside of the county. Even so, the residents of the county have a wide range of interests and needs related to agriculture. In an effort to address as many of those needs and interests as possible, the County Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources offered a multitude of educational opportunities, that included state and regional programs such as the Southern Kentucky Pesticide Trainin
Author: Lyndall Harned
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Over the years, in Boyd County we have accumulated many pieces of shared use equipment, mostly by the Extension Office and the Conservation Office. To date we have 14 separate pieces of shared use equipment between us. Some we have bought together, some individually, and yet others with leveraging grants, including 5 through the Kentucky Ag Development Fund. Some is for use with livestock, some for forages, some for erosion control and soil conditioning. All of these pieces a
Author: Steven Musen
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Due to declining world-wide demand for tobacco products, tobacco sales have fallen from a high of over 60%, to a current value of 23% of the total value of agriculture products sold in Jessamine County. House Bill 611 and the implementation of the Governor’s Office of Ag. Policy’s (GOAP) Agriculture Development Fund and the County Ag. Investment Program (CAIP) has allowed for the allocation over $3.1 million, over a 16-year period. These funds have been used to assist in the restruct
Author: Winston Dunwell
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Recently agriculture has suffered from a shortage of technically skilled employees with a knowledge of horticulture science and the opportunities available. Professional and academic societies have joined forces to offer marketing tools to students and youth. An example is Seed Your Future a program of Longwood Gardens and American Society of Horticultural Science with numerous financial supporters including green industry, societies, universities and individuals. In addition the Eas
Author: Nicholas Carter
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Since the passing of the tobacco buyout, tobacco production has declined significantly. Cooperative Extension Service was given the responsibility to create and facilitate the 9 members Ag Development Council. The council met and gathered facts from all areas of agriculture in Fayette County and created a comprehensive plan for agriculture. This council has reviewed and approved applications from various groups or individuals for improvement in area of needs highlighted in the comprehensive plan
Author: Nicholas Carter
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
In the fall of 2012 Fayette County was invited to assemble a three member team to attend the Beef Cattle IRM Leadership program and tour in Ashville North Carolina. During this very beneficial and useful program it was determined that one of the major issues affecting the Agriculture Industry in Kentucky was that we needed to tell the story about Agriculture and educate the young people about Agriculture. In looking at that possibility in Fayette County it was determined that we would select six
Author: Glen Roberts
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Collaborators: Ky Department of Agriculture, ANR agent Glen Roberts, Ky State University Small Farm Assistant , Danny Adams, Ky Farm Bureau Federation, Wayne County Farm Bureau Federation, Valley Farm Center, UK Beef Nutrition Specialist, UK Soils Specialist, and UK Biosystems and Engineering specialists Goals: Livestock and grain farmers are perceived as good stewards of the land. They farm in a sustainable environmentally friendly and profitable manner. Through attendance at beef cat
Author: David Hull
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The rising costs of labor, insurance, machinery, seed, feed, fertilizer, and every other thing needed to run a farm business of any kind has made it increasingly difficult for farms to operate in a sustainable fashion.As a result of efforts put forth by the Gallatin County Cooperative Extension Service, the Gallatin County Livestock Association, and the Gallatin County Agricultural Council, over 100,000.00 of Phase I Tobacco Settlement money was invested in Gallatin County agriculture in the for
Author: Mattea Mitchell
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
The Four River Counties is bountiful with agriculture. With an impressive 83.53% of the land in all four river counties is used for crop production, it is easy to say that agriculture holds a strong presence in these communities. Working together as one, a committee was developed to highlight agriculture in Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, and Hickman County.The first annual WAVE River Counties AG Day was held at Fort Jefferson Cross Memorial in Wickliffe on July 13. The theme “Lets
