Kara Keeton, Communications Director
Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy
(502) 564-4627
agpolicy.ky.gov

The Agricultural Development Board will hold a check presentation for Central Kentucky Aquatics at 3:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, September 26. The check presentation will take place before the red claw harvest and sampling on the Wright Farm in Franklin County.

Central Kentucky Aquatics, LLC received Franklin County funds in the form of a grant to produce and market red claws, large lobster-like creatures. The funds will be used to evaluate markets for the species in Kentucky, in areas such as high-end white tablecloth restaurants, seafood wholesalers, local farmers markets, local festivals, retailers, and processors. Central Kentucky Aquatics will also focus on increasing consumer awareness of this product in conjunction with the evaluation of markets. The company will provide educational and outreach programs for producers interested in diversifying into red-claw production, and assist producers in accessing potential markets.

Kentucky’s Legislature has made a historic effort to diversify away from tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing 50% of Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. To date Kentucky has invested over $152 million to an array of county, regional, and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises. The Central Kentucky Aquatics project represents just one of the over 1300 projects that have been funded through Agricultural Development Fund, since the inception of the program in January 2001.

For more information regarding this project, contact Tim Miller with Central Kentucky Aquatics at (502) 839-5180 or the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy at (502) 564-4627.