Extension
It Starts With Us
Agriculture and Horticulture
Advancing Agriculture & Horticulture
Linda McClanahan, Jessica Bessin, Dana Anderson
Horticulture, Consumer and Home
Horticulture, Commercial
Beef
Farm Management, Economics and Policy
Mercer County has a diverse combination of both commercial agriculture, horticulture, and home horticulture, all being viable industries in Mercer County. Farmers, community leaders, farm organizations, Mercer County Ag Development Council, Mercer County Farmers Market, Mercer County Ag Advisory Council, and Mercer County Horticulture Advisory Council have identified important agricultural and horticultural issues and needed programs. Farm profitability, diversification, increasing value of property, promoting local foods, and marketing opportunities are some of the top priorities. Leaders have also identified the need to have extensive programs in the area of agricultural awareness. With less than 2% of the population involved in food production there is a great need for education about where and how food and other agricultural products are produced.
*Increased interest in agriculture and horticulture production.
*Homeowners will save more money on home landscape.
*Increased diversification of crops produced in county.
*Homeowners will add value to their property through education programs on maintaing landscapes
*Farmers market will continue to grow as intrest in local food increases
*Youth will exhibit skills, share knowledge with others, including family members, and may decide to raise some of their own food
*Farmers will improve production practices
*Farmers and homeowners will understand pesticide safety
*Increased interest in local foods
*Students will learn about UK and career opportunities in agriculture.
Initial Outcome: Increased interest in Agriculture and Horticulture Programs
Indicator: Increased numbers of participants for agriculture and horticulture programs
Method: Counting participants attending the programs
Timeline: on-going
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Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest
Project or Activity: Master Gardener Program
Content or Curriculum: UK Master Gardener Manual
Inputs: UK CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialists, Mercer Extension Staff, UK Publications and other resources, Master Gardener volunteers
Date: Fall
Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest
Project or Activity: Horticulture topics, instructor, newsletter, radio, Facebook page, videos,
Content or Curriculum: UK Horticulture Department, Horticulture organizations, Ag communications
Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer County Hort. Agent, UK publications, Master Gardeners, Volunteers
Date: Ongoing
Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest
Project or Activity: Horticulture Classes
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer Extension Staff, UK publications
Date: Ongoing
Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest
Project or Activity: Special Interest Horticulture & Gardening Topics
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: Horticulture Agent, Mercer Count Public Library, UK publications
Date: Ongoing
Audience: Clients with Beekeeping Interest
Project or Activity: Fort Harrod Beekeeping Club
Content or Curriculum: KDA State Apiarist, Hands-on demonstrations, KY State
Inputs: CES Facilities, UK Extension Specialist, Mercer Extension Staff, UK publications, KDA, KY State
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Mercer County Horticulture Field Day
Content or Curriculum: Chosen by Hort Field Day Committee - from UK Specialists and Hort Industry
Inputs: Host farm, volunteers, CES Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organizations, Mercer Extension Staff
Date: Summer/Fall
Audience: Farmers Market Clients
Project or Activity: Fresh To Table
Content or Curriculum: NEP, Plate it Up, Veggie vouchers, Recipes
Inputs: UK publications, Volunteers, Mercer Extension Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organization, Mercer County Farmers Market members
Date: On-going
Audience: Mercer County citizens
Project or Activity: Homesteading Series
Content or Curriculum: UK publications, information from partner organizations
Inputs: UK publications, partner organizations/guest speakers, UK Extension Specialists, Mercer County Extension office, Extension Office staff
Date: Fall
Audience: Clients with Horticulture Interest
Project or Activity: Fort Harrod Garden Club
Content or Curriculum: horticulture publications and information
Inputs: Boyle & Mercer horticulture agents, CES facilities, local horticulture businesses
Date: ongoing
Audience: Homeowners and Farmers
Project or Activity: Pesticide Safety Training/ Pesticides 101
Content or Curriculum: KY Pest Management Curriculum, hands on demonstrations
Inputs: UK Specialist, Extension Publications, Mercer Extension Staff
Date: Spring/Summer
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Annual Mercer County Agriculture Field Day
Content or Curriculum: Chosen by Field Day Committee - from UK Specialists and Ag Industry
Inputs: Host farm, volunteers, CES Staff, Partners/Sponsoring Organizations
Date: September
Audience: Mercer County citizens
Project or Activity: Annual Farm-City Celebration
Content or Curriculum: National Farm-City Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, content relevant to the educational objective set by the committee
Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, collaborating agencies, sponsors, speakers
Date: March
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Beef Quality & Care Assurance Certification
Content or Curriculum: KY BQA Curriculum
Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, KY Cattlemen's Association, host location
Date: Spring/Fall
Audience: Farmers
Project or Activity: Private Pesticide Applicator Training
Content or Curriculum: KY Pest Management Curriculum
Inputs: Extension staff, Extension resources, UK Extension publications
Date: spring
Audience: Elementary school youth
Project or Activity: FarmSCool Week
Content or Curriculum: UK CES, KY Beef Council, KY Horse Council, KY Soybean Association, KY Dept of Ag
Inputs: Extension Staff, Extension resources, Mercer County School system, Burgin School System
Date: Fall
Audience: Mercer County citizens, farmers
Project or Activity: Services
Content or Curriculum: Soil Testing, Plant Disease Diagnosis, Hay Testing, Ration Balancing, Farm & Home Visits, Insect Identification, Weed Identification, Water Testing, Plant Identification, Snake Identification, Forage & Grain Moisture Testing
Inputs: UK CES Facilities, Extension Staff, UK Publications, UK Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, UK Soil Lab, UK Extension Specialists
Date: Ongoing
Audience: Equine clientele
Project or Activity: Equine Express newsletter, special equine topic programs, State Equine Farm & Facilities Expo, Horses & Horsemen
Content or Curriculum: UK Equine
Inputs: UK CES facilities, ANR Agents, UK Extension Specialists, UK publications, UK news releases/exclusives
Date: ongoing
Audience: Mercer County clientele with agriculture or horticulture interest
Project or Activity: demonstration plots and demonstration programs
Content or Curriculum: UK, industry companies
Inputs: UK CES Specialists & resources, new practices, chemicals, local farms for demonstrations, host locations for programs
Date: ongoing
Audience: Extension clientele/followers on social media
Project or Activity: Facebook pages, website, videos, podcasts
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: UK CES agents, UK CES staff, Ag Comm news releases, UK publications/information
Date: ongoing
Audience: Mercer County crop producers
Project or Activity: crop production practices and meetings including regional
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: UK CES Specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources
Date: ongoing
Audience: Mercer County Cattle producers
Project or Activity: cattle production practices, newsletters, and meetings (KY Beef Conference, county winter meetings, regional meetings, dairy month kickoff breakfast, dairy monthly newsletter, cattlemens quarterly roundup newsletter, Master series (Master Cattlemen, Master Marketer, Master Stocker), beef month activities
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: UK CES specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources
Date: ongoing
Audience: Mercer County young and beginning farmers
Project or Activity: support for both young and beginning farmers
Content or Curriculum: UK CES
Inputs: UK CES specialists, facilities, agents, publications and other resources
Date: ongoing
Audience: Mercer County farmers and clientele
Project or Activity: collaboration with agriculture organizations
Content or Curriculum: UK CES, agriculture organizations
Inputs: Farm Bureau, Soil Conservation, Cattlemens Association, Goat Association, Backcountry Horsemen, Master Gardeners, Fair Board
Date: ongoing
Audience: county fair attendees and participants
Project or Activity: Mercer County Fair & Horse Show
Content or Curriculum: CES guidelines, rules & regulations set by various show committees
Inputs: CES Staff, Mercer County Fair & Horse Show facilities/funds, community sponsors, county fair participants
Date: July
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Local Food Systems
Farm Fresh to Table is a program that brought multiple groups within the Mercer County community together to provide fresh produce to youth in need. The Mercer County Horticulture Agent partnered with Heart of Kentucky United Way, Mercer County Community Endowment, Mercer County Schools, and Mercer County Farmers Market. Throughout the summer children would visit the farmers market once a month and receive a bag of produce valued at $20. The bags also include other local products like meat
Author: Linda McClanahan
Major Program: Equine
The Equine Agents Working Group with our equine extension specialist worked to redefine and expand the Equine Farm and Facilities Expo. The intent this year was to get back to more of the original focus of this event which is to assist the small to medium sized acreage horse farm owner select equipment, design facilities and adopt practices which improve their farm operation. This year, we also expanded the speakers to include topics on farm safety, equipment safety and mental health. These topi
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Beekeeping
Due to the growing interest in beekeeping and the increase in members to local bee clubs the Boyle and Mercer County Horticulture agents planned and hosted a Beginner Beekeeping course for their community. Comprised of four essential classes - Beekeeping 101, Starting a Hive, Seasonal Management, and Enemies of Bees. These courses were a collaborative effort involving local beekeepers, Extension Specialists from the University of Kentucky, Kentucky State University, and Kentucky's State Apia
Author: Linda McClanahan
Major Program: Beef
UK Extension Specialists have worked to acquire grant dollars for a multi-state research program to evaluate the current effectiveness of dewormers and deworming practices on beef cattle operations. The ANR agent collaborated with specialists on this project. The ANR agent identified and collected samples from 3 demonstration farms in Spring 2023 and 3 in Fall/Winter 2023. There was some overlap in demonstration farms so in total there were 4 separate farms from Mercer County participating in th
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Local Food Systems
The Mercer County Farmers Market has been under the guidance of Mercer County Cooperative Extension for more than 20 years. In the past two years the market has seen an increase in membership and market participation. After much discussion the market voted to branch out on their own. This move comes as a testament to the market's growth and popularity within the community, as well as its increasing autonomy and confidence.The Mercer County Horticulture Agent connected the farmers marke
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Horticulture, Consumer and Home
With Harrodsburg’s 250th anniversary right around the corner the Harrodsburg’s local Tree Board has been working tirelessly to beautify our community and help the environment. Trees are more than aesthetically pleasing. They combat climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen to provide crucial habitats for wildlife, trees offer a plethora of benefits. Their shade and canopy help mitigate the urban heat island effect, reducing energy consumption and improving air q
Author: Linda McClanahan
Major Program: Equine
Do we make an impact when we have educational activities like field days? First consider that impact can be defined as “to have an effect on, or to influence” (Merriam-Webster 2012). While we can define it, the challenge can be to measure or appreciate the impact that may have occurred. Recently, an equine field day was held that focused on farm management practices. Partners for the field day included the host farm, Dr. Bob Coleman (Equine Extension Specialist), Dr. Morgan Hay
Author: Jessica Bessin
Major Program: Beekeeping
The Beekeeping 2.0 educational class series, developed in response to community feedback following the initial Intro to Beekeeping series, has made a substantial impact on local beekeepers and pollinator enthusiasts. The advanced courses, including Catching a Swarm, Planting for Pollinators, Opening and Exploring a Hive, and Extracting Honey, provided participants with in-depth knowledge and practical skills essential for successful beekeeping. This curriculum, designed by Mercer and Boyle Count
Author: Linda McClanahan
Major Program: Farm Management, Economics and Policy
As a result of requests for specific programming, the ANR, FCS and HORT agents teamed up to start a homesteading series in the spring. We designed the series such that the classes offered in each program area for the month would complement one another. Thus far the ANR programs have focused on backyard poultry, soils and sheep/goat production. The ANR agent taught the soils class while ANR specialists taught the other 2 programs. Producers who attended the soils course all indicated they planned
