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Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy
$49,000 Approved for Kentucky Dairy Development Council

Press Release Date:  Monday, December 18, 2006  
Contact Information:  Angela Blank, Communications Officer
(502) 564-4627
angelag.blank@ky.gov  


Frankfort, KY. (December 18, 2006)-The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved the Kentucky Dairy Development Council for $49,000 as a grant from Kentucky Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship funds for a comprehensive market study of Kentucky’s dairy industry. This proposal was one of the twenty-nine projects, totaling $4,148,273 approved at the December Kentucky Agricultural Development Board Meeting.

The purpose of this study is to provide a benchmark analysis for intrastate, interstate, and federal initiatives that will enhance the long-term sustainability of the Kentucky dairy industry. It will provide the basis of a long-term strategy to sustain the capacity of the Kentucky dairy industry through the fluid demands of Kentucky’s market place. The analysis will also present a series of industry and government actions and programs, both intrastate and regional that may be taken to enhance the performance and profitability of the Kentucky dairy industry.

Governor Fletcher and the Kentucky Legislature 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 $230 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 diversification programs represent more than 2,730 projects that have been funded through Agricultural Development Fund, since the inception of the program in January 2001.

For more information on this project contact Roger Thomas, with the Kentucky Dairy Development Council, at (859) 516-1129. 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.