TITLE: CANNAVAL Conference & Virgin Island Small Farms Visit

The Area: The current population of the United States Virgin Islands as of Thursday, August 1, 2019. The United States Virgin Islands population is equivalent to 0% of the total world population. The United States Virgin Islands ranks 199 in the list of countries population. The total land area is 135 square miles. 97.5% of the population is urban (102,326) in 2019 The median age in the United States Virgin Islands is 41.4 years of age. The total population of the U.S. Virgin Islands is 104,909, the forecast for population change is 104,858 which is approximately a decline of 0.02% (worldometers.info.com)

Level Long Term: 

Hopkinsville, Kentucky is an urban area of Christian County. Is the location which Kentucky State University Small Farms Agent Austin D. Wright was a featured speaker for the first Cannaval conference. The was designed to educate interested small farmers about unique opportunities for niche farmers development of hemp  vs industrial.  We discussed the KDA rules and regulations in which hemp can save and assist small farmers in another option to produce revenue and continue the small farmers way of living. 

Partnership

The Kentucky State University Small Farms Agent for the Christian County Extension Service partnered with different researchers from across the nation. Hr also spoke to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Governor, and First Lady of the Virgin Islands of how small farmers can benefit from having an transitional crop which can  revitalize the economic stability of agriculture and create more economic opportunities for them. 

Target audience:

The five day conference was targeted towards small farmers, historians, educators, business owners, corporations, local, state, & federal government officials from the Virgin Islands, and Caribbean surrounding Islands. 

Outcomes:

During the five day visit I had a chance to listen and hear the concerns of small farmers which voiced their concerns of having more opportunity for crop diversification to have a better economic impact for their families, community, and their territory. On the 19^th of July, Austin Wright spoke on the radio about working with Socially Disadvantaged Small Farmers, African Americans, and the importance of educating them on the opportunities of crop diversification and including hemp, and the health benefits of the plant. We also discussed what Kentucky State University Small farms program does for small farmers and what our goal is with our research for hemp.  Austin Wright spoke to the majority minority population of the Virgin Islands, about Kentucky's process for small farmers to obtain their status to become hemp farmers and processors. The minority small farmers, and businessmen of the Virgin Islands learned about opportunities across the nation, of how they can produce niche products, and value added converted hemp products which can benefit there economic bottom line. The conversation of having strong hemp rules, regulations, and opportunities for small businesses, became the discussion of the government for the US Virgin Islands and Kentucky State University has been invited to participate in the second conference on October 10^th 2019. The biggest financial opportunity is a hemp researcher wants to discuss donating hemp research equipment to KSU and minority small farmers across the state to conduct research on hemp produced, in the commonwealth.