Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy
More than $2.3 Million in Agricultural Development Funds Awarded

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 15, 2011) - The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB), chaired by Gov. Steve Beshear, today approved $2,369,393 in 11 agricultural diversification projects across the Commonwealth during its April board meeting held at Kentucky State University’s Center for Sustainability of Farms and Families.

State and regional projects approved included:

$45,130 Queen Nutrition on Surface Mine Sites
Eastern Kentucky University was approved for $44,130 in state funds and $500 each in Perry and Letcher County funds to assess the nutritional content of royal jelly in an effort to promote queen bee production on surface mine sites in eastern Kentucky.

$2,000,000 River Port Grain Facility
The Meade County Riverport Authority was approved for $2 million in state funds for the construction of a regional port facility for area producers to market their grain, including specialty grain crops.

$5,000  WKU Apiary
Western Kentucky University’s (WKU) Agriculture Department was approved for $5,000 in state funds to establish an apiary at the WKU farm for education, research and honey production to benefit both students and area beekeepers.

County investments approved included:

$40,000 Livestock Arena
The Jessamine County Fiscal Court was approved for $40,000 in Jessamine County funds to construct a covered arena at the Jessamine County Fairgrounds for livestock shows and sales.

$8,000  Youth Cost-share Program
The Jessamine County FFA Alumni Association was approved for $8,000 in Jessamine County funds for a youth cost-share program to aid students with their 4-H or FFA projects. 

The County Agricultural Investment Program (CAIP) is designed to provide farmers with incentives to allow them to improve and diversify their current production practices.  CAIP covers a wide variety of agricultural enterprises in its 11 investment areas.  Four CAIPs were approved by the board totaling $253,027 for Garrard, Magoffin, Perry and Trigg counties.

The Deceased Farm Animal Disposal Assistance Program serves as a  measure to facilitate the coordination of environmentally sound and cost-effective disposal of deceased livestock for Kentucky producers. One County Deceased Farm Animal Disposal Assistance Program was approved for Lincoln County in the amount of $7,500.

The Shared-use Equipment Program is designed to benefit a high number of producers who cannot justify ownership expenses associated with certain equipment by helping them access technology necessary to improve their operations in an economical manner.  One Shared-use Equipment Program was approved by the board in the amount of $10,736 for Mercer County.

In addition to the funding approvals, the KADB approved the continuation of the Deceased Farm Animal Disposal Assistance Program (DAR) for fiscal year 2012 (July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012).  Currently, a cost-effective, environmentally sound means of disposal remains a challenge for many counties.   To date 59 counties have utilized the program for a total of $325,297 in county Agricultural Development Funds.  This will be the third offering of this program.

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Gov. Steve Beshear and the Kentucky General Assembly continue to make great strides toward lessening Kentucky’s dependence on tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing 50 percent of Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. 

To date, Kentucky has invested more than $348 million to an array of county, regional and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises. These funding approvals represent just a few of  more than 3,781 projects that have been funded through the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, since the inception of the program in January 2001.