Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an uptick in new folks moving from other parts of the United States to rural Kentucky and most notably to Fleming County.  Many of the folks moving into the area have little to no farm experience and have numerous questions about basic farming.  The former District ANR/Hort agents determined that there was a need to put together an educational programming geared specifically for small and beginning farmers in the east region of Kentucky.  April Wilhoit, Rebecca Konopka, and Linda Hieneman were tasked to plan the program.  The group decided on hosting a one day "school" with topics such as:  first steps, farm design and layout, taxes and record keeping, enterprises to consider, and using the University of Kentucky "Primer" publication.  Additionally, community partners that are beneficial resources to farmers were invited to attend and have a table top as well as provide a 3-5 presentation on what their organization does and how it can help small and beginning farmers.  The program was hosted at Morehead State University Farm as a more central location for the target area.    

Community partners that were involved in the program were: USDA-FSA, Kentucky State University small farm grant, USDA-NRCS, Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK), Kentucky Division of Forestry, Grow Appalachia, MSU Small Business Center, Farm Credit, KCARD, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Kentucky Office of Ag Policy.  University of Kentucky Specialist that were involved included:  Dr. Steve Higgins, Biosystems Engineering; Dr. Jonathan Shepherd, Ag Economics; and Dr. Steve Isaacs, Ag Economics.  

Over seventy-five folks attended the program.  This included new farmers, small farmers, and two larger farmers.  

Evaluation Results:  (approximately 20 people completed the post evaluation)

• "The First Step"
  • 100% agreed that the topic covered was beneficial for them 
  • 100% indicated that they learned something new 
• "Farm Design & Layout"
  • 95% agreed that the topic covered was beneficial for them
  • 5% were neutral as beneficial 
  • 95% indicated that they learned something new 
  • 5% indicated they did not learn anything new 
  • One person commented:  "Give this guy more time (alot of it) this was very interesting..."
• "Taxes & Record Keeping"
  • 100% agreed that the topic covered was beneficial for them
  • 100% indicated that they learned something new 
  • Comments:  "Hard for me to process, but informative",  "this topic is too broad for a session (select 1 or 2 topics and blow them out)."
• "Enterprises to Consider" 
  • 95% agreed that the topic covered was beneficial for them
  • 5% were neutral as beneficial 
  • 90% indicated that they learned something new
  • 10% indicated that they did not learn something new 
  • Comments. "more on season extension" 
• Favorite Part of the Program
  • 95% indicated that the topics covered was their favorite part of the program
  • 45% indicated that their favorite part of the program was hearing from the partnering groups/organizations.
• Comments for "Do you plan to make changes based upon the information you learned?" 
  • "Yes, use more organizations for help!" 
  • "I plan to make some layout changes when I do add cattle to my operation and also make improvements to my woodlands" 
  • "This workshop has given me idea's of how to set-up my farm enterprise" 
• Was this your first time attending a UK Cooperative Extension educational program?
  • 35% indicated that this was their first time attending a UK Extension Educational Program