Author: Carol Hinton
Major Program: Local Food Systems
The Breckinridge County Farmers Market was a huge success. Each time the market was open, the Facebook page was lit up with comments from vendors, comments from customers and even people in the community would comment if someone was looking for a locally grown product, they would refer them back to the Farmers Market. Finished out the Farmers Market season with the highest number of customers in years, produce still abundant. The utilization of WIC vouchers was up by 19% by the
Author: Amy Aldenderfer
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program provides eligible low-income seniors with redeemable vouchers for fresh, unprocessed local fruits, vegetables, hone, and herbs at approved Farmer’s Markets, The program helps improve nutrition for low-income families, by providing access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The program also increases local farm sales and encourages individuals to shop at the local Farmers Market.The voucher system prov
Author: Jeffrey Wheeler
Will Mullett is now the head winemaker at Talon Winery in Lexington, KY. Will was previously an UK undergraduate student between 2010-2015. During this time he took classes in Enology and Viticulture and also completed an wine related internship working both at the UK Horticulture Research Farm (vineyard and winery) and also at Talon Winery. Will signed on to become the assistant winemaker at Talon Winery in 2014 and was quickly promoted to head winemaker in 2015. Will
Wesley Roney (Seth) began as an intern at the UKHRF vineyard and winery as a high school student in 2016, and continued this work until he graduated from Lafayette High in 2017. After high school graduation Seth moved to New Zealand to study Enology and Viticulture at Lincoln University. Seth moved back to Kentucky in in 2019 and again worked as an intern at both the UK Vineyard and Winery and Talon Winery. Seth is currently employed full-time as the Wine Manager for Blue Rose
Author: Meagan Klee
“Farmers markets have become a critical ingredient to our nation’s economy, food systems, and communities. Connecting rural to urban, farmer to consumer, and fresh ingredients to our diets, farmers markets are becoming economic and community centerpieces in cities and towns across the U.S.” (usda.gov)In 2019 Casey County held a pilot Farmers Market to measure local interest and support for the program. The market was set up in a small parking lot beside city hall in downtown Li
Laura Cleary began her journey into the field of wine as an undergraduate student studying Food Science at UK. She began taking classes in Enology and Viticulture starting in 2014 and received a Certificate in Distillation, Wine and Brewing from UK in 2016. Laura served as a Viticulture and Enology Research Technician at the UKHRF from 2016-2017, where she learned to both work in the vineyard as well as performing laborotory analysis on both juice and wine. Laura moved on from
Author: Leann Martin
One of the best lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, is how great and available local foods are. In the midst of the pandemic, families cautiously stayed close to home with limited trips to the crowded grocery stores. To help educate community members about the abundant local foods available as well as promoting family growth and health, the Logan County Extension Service, with community partners, re-designed the Family Fun Day at the Farmers’ Market into the Sweet Summertime at the
Author: Lindie Huffman
As Kentucky was faced with quarantine and lock-downs, residents became even more reliant on social media to feel connected with the world. Extension shifted its focus to communicate with clientele through various electronic communications, with a big focus on Facebook. Pendleton County ANR Agent began using gorilla targeted marketing techniques that offered clientele short-notice of programming to keep some excitement and bring forth opportunities to complete at-home projects, establish home gar
Author: Steven Musen
The recognition of the benefits of locally grown foods in terms of superior flavor, food safety and availability of heritage vegetable varieties has caused the popularity of Farmers Markets to steadily increase, especially in urban and sub-urban areas. The Leadership Jessamine County, Class of 2017 created the Nicholasville Farmer’s Market and established its governing board. Their main goals were to improve access to healthy foods, support local growers, and generate community-based gathe
Author: Jason Phillips
The Simpson County Extension Agents for Agriculture and 4-H Youth Development worked jointly to provide new programs during COVID-19, with home vegetable gardening resources being in high demand since the onset of the pandemic. As a result, our joint gardening programs began with Drive Thru Container Garden Kits where Extension provided 155 families with everything they needed to grow tomatoes last year.This year Simpson Co. Extension Agents continued our home gardening programs with squash cont
Local food production systems have become a staple in many communities throughout the Commonwealth. As buying local food products has continued to gain popularity, the Simpson County Extension Agent works with small and beginning farmers to ensure that appropriate resources are available from the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service to provide the best opportunity for success. Many small and beginning farmers utilize the Franklin-Simpson Farmers’ Market to help
Author: Adam Leonberger
When the pandemic reached the US and we entered lock-down, the Frankfort-Franklin County Emergency Management Center asked for volunteers to donate their time, items or space - for whatever may come. Since the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service (FCCES) was closed to the public and Extension Agents were limited in what they could provide to the public, FCCES agents agreed to offer their time and the building space, if needed. The Frankfort-Franklin County Emergency Management Center
Author: Melissa Morgan (Newman)
The FSIC was contacted by a local feed manufacturer interested in producing a granola product for human consumption. Their intention is to have this product available for sale in their feed store but also available for retail sale in the community. One stumbling block to accomplish these goal was a shelf life study to evaluate how long the product retained eating quality. Performing a shelf life and subsequent taste panel study presented significant challenges during the pandem
It is through our valued partnership with the Allen, Logan, and Simpson Community Early Childhood Council that we, the Logan County Cooperative Extension Service, seek to improve school readiness in Logan County by educating, encouraging, and engaging families. Kindergarten readiness means that each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote the child’s success. The kindergarten screener measures readiness in five important domains,
Author: Reed Graham
In response to COVID and the desire to continue programming, the Quicksand Area Agriculture Agents decided to offer a weekly virtual program for our clients. The series has been titled, "Mountain Monday Zoom Series" and it offers participants to "explore various topics impacting farming, natural resources, gardening, agriculture, and more in the mountains." The series began on February 1 and is continued through the end of April. Topics were: Small Ruminant Management, P
Author: Eric Baker
Restrictions of the COVID19 pandemic gave many people more time at home and renewed interest in growing home vegetables for their family. With increased questions about growing a garden, the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Estill County ANR agent developed a Fall Victory Garden Grab-n-Go event. With assistance from the SNAP-Ed assistant, a SNAP farmer’s market mesh bag was assembled with gardening information and related incentive items to distribute to citizens first-come-fir
Author: Garrard Coffey
The Rockcastle Cooperative Extension Service and The Rockcastle County Farmers Market have a relationship based upon promoting local food systems and supporting local farmers supplying fresh produce to customers. The farmers market has been steadily growing over the past 3 years, adding more vendors each year and increasing total sales. The Extension service is dedicated to the vendors of the farmers market by offering all trainings necessary for selling goods at the farmers market. &
Author: Paul Vijayakumar
The OFRR (On-farm readiness review) is a voluntary assessment used to familiarize farmers with FMA-PSR (Food safety modernization act produce safety rule) requirements and highlight areas where their current practices may need attention. The goal is to provide individual farms with OFRR created tools that can help to assess their preparedness for the implementation of a new federal rule. The PSR became effective on January 26, 2016. The initial compliance dates were/are January 26, 2018 for larg
