Graves County is one of the biggest agricultural counties in the state of Kentucky. It ranks 1st in ag sales, 1st in livestock production, and 4th in crop production. The economy has been built on the back of "big" agriculture thanks to the poultry industry and row crop farms growing soybeans, corn, wheat, and tobacco. However, we see many producers looking for ways to inject cash flow into their operations through other side ventures and diversifying their farms. Graves County has also seen a large influx of people moving into the area and creating small farms to escape the busy life and high cost of living associated with other places. Coming up in the spring of 2025, Graves County will have its first official permanent Farmer's Market that will be opening as well which gives more opportunities for these people to have an outlet to sell their goods. These circumstances have led the Graves County Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Agent, Miranda Rudolph, to create a series of programs that teach people some of these skills that can be utilized to fill these needs. 

To begin this series Rudolph drew from resources already present in the county and surrounding area to call upon them to teach a class for their trade, as well as her own experience with a value-added product. The first class was a Goat Milk Soap Workshop taught by Rudolph using her knowledge and experience raising dairy goats and formerly running a soap business with her family. The class was so popular that 2 more were scheduled. This class began by teaching participants about how to handle goat milk for proper sanitation, good safety practices, and a quick chemistry lesson to show them how the different ingredients and process works. Once the teaching portion was finished, participants then got a chance to create their own 1-pound batch of soap to take home with them.

The next class in the series was on Maple Syrup Production and was taught by a local producer. Participants were taught how to identify good trees for syrup, the tapping process, and the boiling process to create syrup. The producer brought in pieces of maple logs to allow participants to practice tapping trees. They also brought in samples of their syrup and maple syrup cotton candy that they make and sell at their farmer's market events as an example of different products they can further create out of their syrup. 

This series has so far reached 50 participants and with more classes on the horizon is set to reach even more in the coming months. Future classes include subjects like wool value-added products and using home-grown grains in baked goods. While these programs were created to provide farmers and homesteaders with opportunities to diversify their farms, their reach has also included home-based businesses not necessarily interested in creating the products starting with the creation of the raw goods, but looking for ways to take raw goods from farms and create their own products with them. These classes have so far brought both men and women, and ages ranging from children as young as 13 years old to people in their retirement years. There were participants from surrounding counties as well as Graves County who drove in to attend.

Based on surveys provided after each program so far, 100% of participants have stated that they learned a new skill or something that they didn't know before about the production of these products. Of these participants, 5 are looking into creating their own business applying these skills and selling their goods at their local farmer's markets. Ten said that they hope to use the skills gained to create more sustainable products for their own family at home. As the series continues, these numbers should continue to increase.