Describe the Issue or Situation.

Because Kentucky is not a traditional fruit producing state, new prospective growers have limited examples of fruit production can be, which can putting in new orchard difficult for new growers. 

Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable).

In 2025 we worked with 3 growers who put in new commercial orchards for 2025

Dennis Hayden- Stoney Brook Winery Boone County

Dennis was brought to the fruit team through his agent Sarah Imbus. He was interested in expanding his winery to also produce cider. With the agent we conducted several farm visits, and helped Dennis with many aspects of installing his orchard. We also brought Dennis and his family to the UK orchards to show him all aspects of installing and caring for a young apple planting in person. he planted 120 high density apples trees on his farm which will serve for Upick agrotourism at his winery and be used to produce hard cider.

Paul Mayweather-Ashbourne Farms Oldham County

Ashbourne farms is event farm which has livestock, greenhouses and an organic vegetable farm. They previously put in an orchard in roughly 2018. Due to errors made on the initial steps of that orchard such as site selecting, planting , and disease management. this orchard had yet to yield. After an initial consultation we determined that they would be better suited to put in a new orchard utilizing a superior site on the property and taking advantage of the high-density systems which are being promoted by our programs. We conducted several site visits, had the Ashbourne staff to the UK orchards, have had them attend our KSHS orchard spring orchard tours to meet other growers to help the staff through all aspects of installing and maintaining a high density apple orchard. The Ashbourne team planted 170 high density apple trees which they will use to sell at their farm stand and use at their resturaunt. The team has been highly successful, and we are planning to host a field day in partnership with the Kentucky Horticulture Council and Organic Association of Kentucky to highlight their success as an example for the potential for small-scale high-density apple production in Kentucky

Clyde Hudson- Barren County

We came in contact with Clyde through our new UK fruit extension facebook page. Clyde had purchased over 500 fruit trees and was searching facebook for advise on how to get into orchard production and agrotourism on his property in cave city. We got clyde to our field day, gave him a tour of our orchard and did two site visits to his new farm. We advised him in many all aspects of maintaining a new orchard and navigating challenges.

Provide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience.

The Target audience for this type of programming is prospective new fruit tree fruit growers

These three new orchards represent successful implementation of the information coming from UK fruit team and should serve as an example for the potential for fruit production in the state while providing economic value for these growers and their communities.