Lexington, KY - When it comes to agriculture, Kentucky is lucky in many ways. Even in a tough economy, farmers continue to produce, and many can do so because of help from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF).
The fund was created by way of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which brought a landmark settlement paid by tobacco companies to the state. Half of that has been used to help farmers face the changes that have besieged them over the last decade.
And change has come. The state went from being home to 40,000 tobacco farms to fewer than 8,000 at last count, and the number continues to fall.
With that in mind, rural communities were feeling the effects of the change. Not that KADF would be the know-all and end-all, but according to a University of Kentucky study conducted in 2007, for every dollar invested in state projects, there was $1.87 in new farm income generated.
The fund has helped agriculture in Kentucky become more diverse than perhaps at any other time through a myriad of sustainable projects and programs.
One example involves a piece of legislation known as the Farm to Food Banks (FTFB) bill and God's Pantry Food Bank (GPFB), an organization that serves 50 counties in central and eastern Kentucky and makes food available to agencies that operate soup kitchens, emergency food pantries, senior citizen and youth programs, and any other direct food service to those in need.
Rep. Tom McKee from Harrison County, a farmer himself and chair of the House Ag Committee, sponsored the bill that essentially would take surplus goods or seconds from state farms and put them on the shelves of food pantries.
Often produce not considered perfect enough for sale venues goes unused even though it is still perfectly good food.
Kristin Ingwell Goode, GPFB development coordinator and FTFB coordinator, said the legislation provided the framework for the program to be established after it was funded.
"FTFB, the program, began in 2009 as a pilot. The intention was never for it to be just our food bank. It was to start it on a smaller scale to see logistically how it works," she said. "We approached the Lincoln and Bath county produce auctions, first of all because we could reach numerous farmers in one location, and secondly, because we were really on a short time frame."
Marian Guinn, chair of the Kentucky Association of Food Banks and CEO of GPFB, brought the idea to Ingwell Goode in February of last year, with the proposal due to the Agricultural Development Board, which oversees the funds, in March and a planned start date of June.
"We really wanted to reach as many farmers as possible," said Ingwell Goode. "To do that in such a short time period, the auctions made sense."
She met with the managers of the two auctions to come up with a price list with the intent of buying "seconds" produce, or when a glut occurred in the market, to buy "firsts" at "seconds" prices.
"Our intention is not to buy firsts, but if it is available at a lower price, we're not going to turn it away," Ingwell Goode said.
The prices agreed upon were fair to the farmer but did not compete with retail, she added. With a weekly budget at each of the auctions, the organization began to purchase produce on June 29, 2009, and did so through December. In some instances, GPFB bought directly from farmers as well.
The total budget for the year was $125,000, with $60,000 being ag development funds. The funds included varying amounts from agriculture development councils in Bath, Clark, Fayette, Lincoln, Pulaski and Scott counties, and the rest came through matching dollars, a requirement of the grant.
Those matching funds came from various organizations, including a community service block grant from a partnership among the Community Action Council for Lexington-Fayette, Bourbon, Harrison, and Nicholas counties, the Kentucky River Foothills Development Council and Feeding America, a leading domestic hunger-relief charity.
With a structure in place and funding to get started, GPFB has been able to purchase from more than 110 different farmers in 31 different counties. Next on the agenda is to secure more funding and take the project statewide.
Of the approximately 1,400 family farms that grow produce in the state, Ingwell Goode said the potential exists to purchase from 350 of those farmers for sure, with hopes of reaching 700 after the first year or two.
Of course, on the flip side are the many families in need of good healthy food. The number of people helped by Kentucky food banks has grown significantly in the last few years. A recent independent study revealed that during the course of a year, GPFB reached out to more than 211,300, helping one in seven families in their service area.
"The ag development funds were absolutely integral in getting the program up and running, and GPFB sees a huge potential in moving the project forward," Ingwell Goode said.
Roger Thomas, executive director of the Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy, said the FTFB program is good for many reasons.
"Projects such as Farms to Food Banks are win-win projects for the producer and consumer alike. Food bank consumers can have access to fresh, local food, and farmers have an additional market for their products," he said.
Now for something different
A unique feature of the KADF has been the diversity of the projects it has funded. One agriculture sector that has benefited greatly is the wine and vineyard industry.
"The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund sparked the resurgence of Kentucky's grape and wine industry," said Thomas. "The investments made in technical assistance, production and infrastructure are examples of sound investments that facilitated the diversification of our industry."
Chrisman Mill Vineyard and Winery, located in Jessamine County, is an example of one of the state's many vineyards that has used ag development funds to rejuvenate an age-old tradition.
Owners Chris and Denise Nelson run the business like many farmers do, as a family agriculture endeavor.
Chris Nelson's love of wine and winemaking began while attending medical school in Texas and escalated after a trip to California's wine country. After coming to Lexington in 1996 as a pediatric physician at Kentucky Children's Hospital, he and his wife began to look for a farm where he could begin his career as a winemaker.
As luck would have it, the location they found just happened to be in the same area in which the first commercial vineyard in the country was established in 1799.
"We've been very proud to know that we are in a place where grapevines were cultivated in the earliest days of this country," said Chris Nelson.
In fact, Kentucky would become the third largest producer of grapes and wine in the United States by the 1870s. With more than 100 wineries and vineyards across the state today, an historic culture continues to grow again.
"It is not our ambition at Chrisman Mill to become a large winery, but we want to help people remember that rich history," Chris Nelson said.
Chrisman Mill has grown nicely, to the point of producing about 8,000 gallons a year with 100 percent of their grape wines coming from Kentucky grapes. The business also utilizes grapes from 10 to 12 other growers in their area. The business includes a commercial kitchen for events and weddings.
Chris Nelson said ag development funds have helped not only his business but also others that have transitioned into the industry, keeping their family farming tradition intact.
"It's one of the reasons were proud to support Kentucky growers Ö A lot of them wouldn't have had the finances to do it, but with the ag development funds, they were able to subsidize and put in their vineyards," he said.
Nelson added that by purchasing other Kentucky grapes, they were able to get a direct credit on their own KADF forgivable loan. That money went to buy needed equipment, including the key purchases of a bladder press and netting for their vines to keep out birds.
"I think a big success for the Kentucky ag development program has been the vineyards," he said. "A lot of them are very small farms and formerly did tobacco. Like grapes, it could be done on small, patch farms; you don't have to have a huge operation to be profitable. A lot of them, faced with what was happening to tobacco, just decided to go to grapes instead."
Nelson noted that grape vineyards have done well here just as they did during pre-prohibition times.
In 10 years, the KADF has invested $300 million in more than 3,600 projects, helping to maintain approximately $4 billion in annual cash receipts from the state's agriculture sector.
Speaking at a celebration of the fund's anniversary held earlier this year, Thomas told a gathering, "Nowhere else in this great land of ours could this event have taken place, because Kentucky is the only state that made this kind of commitment to agriculture."