S-107 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546-0091
+1 (859) 257-4302
craig.wood@uky.edu
Author: Savannah Columbia
Major Program: Farm Management, Economics and Policy
This year, the MarketReady program expanded its programming to include Buyer Tours. This will be the first set of in-person events for the MarketReady Training Program, post-Covid. Each Buyer Tour gives local food producers an opportunity to meet and chat with real buyers in the grocery, restaurant, and wholesale marketplace(s). The Louisville and Lexington tours took place on August 12th and 19th, respectively. We had a
Author: Amanda Potter
In May of 2023 the Regional Farmers Market Meeting was held at the Derrikson Agricultural Facility at Morehead State University. This was a multi county effort geared towards vendors participating in Farmers Markets in Rowan, Fleming, Bath, Menifee, Lewis, Carter, Morgan, and Elliot county. Speakers for this event spoke to clients about non cash payments and innovative ways to market their products. Vendors had the option to purchase their Kentucky Proud products. This allowed clients to have a
Author: Morgan Hayes
In November 2022, faculty from the BAE department including Morgan Hayes, Josh Jackson, Sam McNeill, Doug Overhults, Tyler Barzee and Mike Montross put together an initial agent in-service training in Clark County to educate on energy usage and the opportunity for alternative energy sources including solar on farms. The training included a half day of classroom presentations from both faculty and local energy cooperatives as well as a tour of a site which highlighted some of the concepts d
Author: Joseph Ray
The cooperative extension service is one thing that all 120 Kentucky counties have in common. In counties across the state extension offices are looked to as a place of information for everything happening in the county and a source of unbiased, researched based information on soil amendments and pesticide information to animal nutrient requirements. To better help meet the needs of Boyle County producers and landowners while answering their questions. The ANR Agent implemented a testing pr
Author: Timothy Stombaugh
An important part of agricultural equipment development and innovation is standardization. Equipment manufacturers rely heavily on national and international standards to develop machines that are safe, reliable, and compatible with other machines developed by different manufacturers. A new national standard was developed to prescribe methods to test the accuracy of granular application machinery. This work has a direct impact on anyone who purchases agricultural granular appli
Author: Megan Wetenkamp
As a new agent, I found it very important to promote myself to the community through a variety of outlets. Not only am I a regular participant in almost every agricultural club in the county, but I am also prolific in posting on our county Facebook page, sending emails to my subscription list, writing weekly local paper articles, and creating a quarterly agriculture print/digital newsletter. The farmers of Henry County are accustomed to receiving their information from each source; NRCS, Conserv
Author: David Hull
The Gallatin County ANR Agent emphasizes the word "service" in our organization's name. He feels there is no better way than hands-on, face-to-face interaction to show the community his dedication to the people who reside here. He is also very cognizant of the fact that it's local taxpayers who pay Extension's bills! This very fact helps to motivate him to be the best public servant he can be.Farm and garden visits are excellent examples of this hands-on type of service. Du
Author: Steven Musen
The Kentucky Ag. Development Fund,s County Ag. Investment Program (CAIP) cost-share program has been used to assist in the restructuring of Jessamine County Agriculture, helping to alleviate financial challenges caused by the loss of tobacco income and diversify the agriculture production base. The nine members of the Jessamine County Agriculture Development Board, in cooperation with the Jessamine County Extension ANR Agent, have worked hard to maximize the use of the KADF cost-share funds
Fencing Field DayHenry County’s largest agriculture commodity is cattle, with over $10,991,000 in sales according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Because of this fact, a large part of my programming as a new agent has been centered on the industry. I work closely with the local Cattlemen’s Association chapter. I plan and facilitate the educational portion of their meetings, bringing in specialists to speak about various subjects. Many farmers have indicated to me their preference
Author: Beau Neal
The FDA has changed the laws regarding antibiotics used on livestock/consumption animals. Some of these antibiotics have always been availbe over-the-counter (OTC). Starting in June they were no longer available OTC and all of them had to be prescribed by veterinarian. This presented a logistical challenge and many questions from livestock producers of all kinds (cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, etc.). The purpose of this program was to utilize local veterinarians and educate
Author: Vicki Shadrick
Tri-County Ag Extension Group Educational Series Tri-County Ag Extension Group consists of Agriculture and Natural Resources Agents in Webster, McLean and Hopkins Counties. The counties are not only alike geographically, but also agriculturally. Many producers in the tri-county area farm in all three counties. With specialist demand during the “winter meeting season” coupled with travel constraints, moving toward multi-county educational opportunities just make
Over the past three years, we have all learned new ways to connect with people. Even during a global pandemic, businesses found ways to continue to meet the needs of their clientele and families found ways to stay connected without gathering in person. Stepping out of our comfort zones to learn new skills quickly became the new normal. The pandemic is over, but learning and adapting to new ways to connect to our clientele is still a priority. Agriculture and Natural Resources E
Author: Jay Stone
Author: Bryce Roberts
Perhaps someone bought a 5-10 acre home lot on which they are dreaming of homesteading and selling produce from a large garden. Maybe, they are retiring from work, inherited land, and suddenly became the steward of a much larger property. Possibly they are a young farmer leasing land for the first time and looking for a farm to purchase while they establish their business. Beginning farmers, market gardeners, and landowners come with many different situations; but, they tend to have similar inte
Author: Gregory Halich
After delivering the Backgrounding / Stocker Profitability Conference in a virtual format in March of 2022, it was determined that there was sufficient demand to offer the program in an in-person format across Kentucky during the winter of 2022 / 2023. Programs were held in Bowling Green, Lexington, Columbia, and Elizabethtown between November of 2022 and March of 2023. The program was modified from the virtual format and also updated such that examples and illustrations would be current and foc
Fertilizer prices more than doubled between 2020 and 2022. Grain farmers had more than offsetting increases in commodity prices, but cattle prices increased only slightly, leaving cattle farmers in a precarious situation going into 2022. With conventional management, the total fertilizer cost would be close to $300 per cow at spring 2022 prices. Consequently, I started developing programming that highlighted strategies to reduce or eliminate fertilizer use on cattle farms
Bale Grazing is a winter feeding practice originally developed in the western Canadian provinces and portions of the northern US. Done correctly, it can reduce equipment and labor (no tractor is required for feeding) and dramatically increase pasture fertility. However, it had to be adapted to work well in the Upper South as our soils aren’t frozen over for months at a time during winter. I started bale grazing on one of my personal farms 11 years ago to figure out how it
Author: Ricky Arnett
Phase I funding continues to play an integral part of the agriculture of Green County. The Green County Agricultural Development Board helped to administer over $300,000 to the agriculture producers of Green County.The council funded producers with the C.A.I.P. program that included: genetics, fencing, on farm water development, cattle handling, hay storage, diversification, technology, dairy diversification, and forage improvement. Several different educational offerings included as part of the
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