Author: David Davis
Planning Unit: Clark County CES
Major Program: Commercial Horticulture
Plan of Work: Horticulture, Livestock, Forages, Agriculture
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Diversifying the farm with multiple farm enterprises has been very important for Clark County farmers given the volatility of many of the agricultural markets. Vegetable production is one of the market opportunities that some Clark County farmers have been exploring. However, starting a vegetable production enterprise is not without its challenges. Unlike other crops, many of the farming activities have to be completed on a timely basis. Finding the right crop that fits in with the other existing enterprises on the farm can be difficult. Marketing vegetable crops is also a challenge in Kentucky. Although there is a lot of market opportunity for many vegetables, it is difficult for farmers to get connected with those markets due to the nature of the industry. Previous negative experiences and failure with former efforts to bring vegetable production to central Kentucky; on both the behalf of the farmer, and the end marketers, have also made it challenging for new farmers to enter the industry. Another challenge arose from the construction of a new bypass that threatened to shut down an existing cooperative vegetable packaging facility located in Georgetown, KY, Central Kentucky Growers Cooperative, in 2017. A lack of knowledge regarding marketing, and general “how to grow” certain crops for the growers has also been challenging. In 2017, the Clark County Extension Service began conducting programs to assist farmers interested in entering into vegetable production to meet these challenges. This started with a meeting which was attended by 37 different potential growers. This was a brain storming session to gauge grower interest level, and to identify the challenges locally that potential growers faced. One idea that came from that meeting involved starting a produce food hub facility. This facility would create marketing opportunities for interested growers. A session of the 2018 Clark County Winter School was conducted and attended by 87 participants including potential growers. In this session, a guest speaker from TRACTOR, a food hub facility in western North Carolina discussed their experiences, advised growers, and gave recommendations for starting a new facility based on their organization’s model. After this session, several meetings were held with various growers to explore the food hub idea further. It became evident that a food hub was not a viable option at this time because such a facility would not be self-sustainable in a start-up environment vegetable industry environment. A new approach was taken to work with small numbers of growers on an individual basis for the purpose of creating a small group that might one day start up a food hub or grower cooperative in Clark County. New growers were introduced to Central Kentucky Growers Cooperative. These efforts of outreach to new growers resulted in a lease extension, allowing producers to utilize the Georgetown facility for 4 more years. The efforts of Clark Co. CES, along with efforts of local leaders in the vegetable industry like Zeldon Angel (Clark County vegetable producer) led to a new contract between growers and Cabbage USA Inc. This contract created the opportunity for growers to produce 53 acres of cabbage in central Kentucky. In total, the efforts of the Clark County Extension Service, and local leaders result in contracts for 13 new cabbage growers, and 6 cabbage growers with previous growing experience totaling 46 of the 53 desired acres. Of that acreage, 21 acres of that cabbage were successfully produced by farmers in Clark County. This has led to more interest in a vegetable grower development program in future years, expansion of vegetable production in central Kentucky, and continued exploration in improving infrastructure to be used for vegetable processing in the area to further assist vegetable producers in the future.
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