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 interested in becoming organic on organization, and who can help them in the transitioning process. 

Various specialists and professionals were contacted to speak during different listening sessions throughout the evening. There were representatives from KDA who presented on the organic application and certification process, and OAK who presented on how they can help producers during the transitioning to USDA certified organic production. Also, Organic Valley spoke on their opportunities for producers, UK Extension Specialist of Sustainable Agriculture and SARE Land Grant University Liaison presented on organic meat & sustainably produced beef. The last speakers for the evening were the vegetable production & high tunnels manager at Berea and the Whitley County extension agent for horticulture education, who spoke on their own experiences of going organic. The Taylor County horticulture extension agent moderated the event. 

After the conference, the horticulture agent spoke with individuals about the conference. Feedback of the attendees was good. Comments were made about all of the helpful information which was presented. Several of the attendees wanted copies of the presentations and handouts. Before a future organic conference, surveys will be sent out to determine what the attendees would like to learn about, which was not covered within this conference. 

The initial impact of the conference was to provide help to those producers who are thinking about going organic, whether it is something they would want to implement on their farm, and if it would be profitable by learning more about it. Also, it was to help those producers who already had started the process, who were in need of individuals who could help them as they were transitioning. 

The intermediate outcome would be if the producers actually transitioned their farm and began to produce USDA organically certified commodities. The long-term outcome would be evident if the organic production of the producers’ farms were profitable and provided for the producers, their families, and exhibited a limited environmental impact.