Much of the success the state’s agriculture industry has enjoyed is due in part to having good operating plans — one of them being a five-year strategic plan initiated by the Kentucky Agriculture Council (KAC).
The group recently presented Gov. Steve Beshear with its second such plan, “Connecting: Strategies to Better Kentucky’s Agricultural Economy and Rural Communities (2013-2018),” at a ceremony at the Capitol in Frankfort, Ky.
The idea of the plan began in 2007 with the convening of the first-ever Kentucky Agriculture Summit, which brought agriculture leaders from around the state together to accept a challenge from then Gov. Ernie Fletcher. They were charged with the task of developing a strategic plan of action to build on the state’s agricultural successes and propel all of Kentucky agriculture into the future.
Keith Rogers, who served as the executive director of the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy under the Fletcher administration and current board member of the KAC, said something unique about both strategic plans is they were built around topic areas.
“This plan has seven topic areas, and within those, we have established a background and goals and action items to accomplish those goals,” he said.
Kentucky isn’t the only state to implement such a plan, but Rogers said because of the way it has been designed with the action items and goals, one study ranked Kentucky’s in the top three of all state plans.
“Probably the most unique thing about the structure and how we do this is the fact that the KAC is the lead entity. The council is an organization of about 84 organizations that work with agriculture,” he said. “When you bring those kinds of numbers to the table to develop a strategic plan, you generally can have all views on the table and a good discussion, and I think that’s what our secret is in Kentucky.”
A task force was created to put together the plan, which began work last February with a series of meetings and forums across the state. The report was finished last November.
Beshear, who accepted the first plan early in his first term, said this strategic document is not just about improving farms and helping farmers; it’s about strengthening their place in communities, improving quality of life and economic vitality across Kentucky.
“This plan for Kentucky’s agriculture community is a strong and thoughtful document that, when implemented, will help secure a bright future for our farm families,” he said.
The seven topic areas listed in the plan include: next generation farming; new markets identification and development; regional agricultural and rural community development; agricultural education; consumer education and outreach; government policies, initiatives and programs; and policymaker education and outreach.
Rogers said the importance of such a document is to guide the state to the next level, agriculturally speaking, as it grows and diversifies, and while the plan addresses many areas in agriculture, he said the topic of next generation farming really stood out.
“We have matured enough as an industry that we have a lot of young people who are coming back into production agriculture and into industry careers,” he said. “So one of the biggest focuses was on the next crop of producers and those being involved in agriculture.”
Todd Clark, a farmer from Fayette County, along with Rogers and Sharon Furches, president of Kentucky Women in Agriculture, Inc., served as co-chairs of the KAC task force that helped to put together the strategic plan. Clark said in bringing all the different agriculture groups together under the KAC umbrella, each one had an opportunity to learn from the others.
“It was interesting in roundtable discussions how someone would mention something and other people around the table would not be familiar with that subject,” he said. “It may have been, for instance, the corn growers were doing something beneficial but others were unaware of it. Just making it known makes small ideas into something very substantial that could have a lasting effect, especially with an industry as big as agriculture, across the state.”
Kentucky agriculture has enjoyed growth even in the midst of an economic downturn. But during the period that the plan covers, the state will lose a significant portion of farm income, as tobacco buyout funds will end and as direct payments from the government will likely go away as part of a new Farm Bill.
Rogers said that loss of revenue was acknowledged in the document, and while a direct way to replace it is not included and well may not even be possible, action on such topics as tax policy, for example, that would give farmers an advantage or help compensate for lost revenue are addressed.
Will Snell, an agricultural economist at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, made note of the concerns caused by these upcoming losses in the plan’s executive summary. Snell wrote, “A more immediate and direct concern will be filling the void of tobacco buyout payments ending in 2014 and likely cuts in other government payments (e.g. direct payments), collectively accounting for around 20 percent of our net farm income in recent years. Consequently, Kentucky agriculture, like U.S. agriculture, will probably have to depend more on the marketplace to replace these lost dollars.”
With that said, the strategic plan also includes a “top-five list” of priority policy actions to advance Kentucky agriculture.
Those include: “Restore the historical level of revenue to the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund that will permit it to continue support for diversification of Kentucky farm production and strengthen the economic vitality of rural communities; fully fund and implement initiatives underway to upgrade the diagnostic facilities at the Murray State Breathitt Veterinary Center, including full construction funding in the Commonwealth’s 2014 budget; improve the competitiveness of Kentucky agriculture with other states and help to increase net farm income through innovative legislation and tax-law modifications and also create a regulatory environment that allows agricultural producers and businesses to make long-term operational decisions and investments in land, labor and equipment; continue to provide strong funding support for the Department of Agriculture’s Kentucky Proud program and also increase state funding through KDA for agriculture-focused companion marketing efforts at regional, national and international events; and adequately fund the state’s agricultural experiment stations and university farms to cover the costs of deferred maintenance on facilities and provide adequate funds for new programs.”
For more information about the KAC or to view the five-year strategic plan, go to www.kyagcouncil.org.