Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy
Kentucky Agricultural Development Board Approves $184,000 for Kentucky Sheep & Wool Producers

Frankfort, KY. (September 18, 2006)-The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved Kentucky Sheep and Wool Producers, Inc. for $184,000 in state funds to establish the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office. This proposal was one of the twenty-seven projects, totaling $1,395,478 approved at the September Agricultural Development Board Meeting.

The Kentucky Sheep and Wool Producers, Inc. would use these funds to open a Sheep and Goat Development Office in cooperation with the Kentucky Goat Producers. They would employ a Co-Executive Director for the two organizations. This person will promote the Kentucky sheep and goat industries, coordinate producer education, and monitor issues both statewide and nationally that could affect sheep and goat production in the Commonwealth. 

Governor Fletcher and the Kentucky Legislature continues to make great strides towards lessening Kentucky’s dependence on tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing 50% of Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund.  Since the inception of the program in January 2001, the Agricultural Development Board has approved over 2,656 proposals committing over $222 million to an array of county, regional, and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises.

For more information on this project contact Richard Vansickle with the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Producers Association at (859) 744-8747. To learn more about cost-share grant and loan programs available though the Agricultural Development Fund contact the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy at (502) 564-4627.