Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy
Kentucky Agricultural Development Board Considers Program Revisions Benefitting Kentucky Farmers

FRANKFORT, KY. (Dec. 23, 2008)- Last Friday, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB) met for their monthly meeting and discussed new ideas in revising Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund (KADF) programs. The proposed concepts would allow the programs to better address the changing needs of Kentucky farm families and rural communities.

“It is imperative we do our best to ensure all producers are given the opportunity to enhance their agriculture operations as we continue the KADF investments throughout Kentucky,” said Roger Thomas, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy (GOAP).  “We look forward to receiving input and additional ideas concerning this concept as the evolution of the KADF continues.”

The KADB took the first step towards revising its policies by approving a new project application timeline, which can be found by clicking on the “New KADB Deadlines” link on the GOAP website, http://agpolicy.ky.gov. Beginning March 2009, projects (formally known as non-models) will be considered for Board action every other month, rather than the current monthly schedule. The KADB will continue meeting each month to discuss other business.

The KADB also enacted a county model program/menu “Blackout” period. This period of time will begin January 5, 2009 and will end March 20, 2009. The KADB and the GOAP staff will consult with county agricultural development council members, administrators, extension agents, agricultural leaders, legislators, and others in gathering feedback and suggestions to be used in a final proposal of changes for the 2009 programs.

During the “blackout” period mentioned above, input will be sought for the following policy concepts: 

• Offer all programs in a menu fashion (“County Agriculture Investment Program”) with no individual “model programs” being offered. Model Programs would be renamed as “investment areas”.
• Revise the term limit on legal agreements for a County Agriculture Investment Program to be 12-months, regardless of investment area;
• Provide producers the opportunity to apply for funds in any of the investment areas that the County Agriculture Investment Program encompasses (a particular investment area may not be excluded);
• Revise the cost-share limit for 2009 to $7,500 per producer; however, county councils will have the ability to reduce the maximum cost-share limit to a level that will be the same for all investment areas;
• Redefine “tobacco dependency” as follows: “A producer applicant who has received a Phase II check, a buyout check, or who grew and marketed tobacco during the previous growing/marketing season”, maintaining the policy that the sons and/or daughters of these individuals are tobacco dependent;
• Eliminate lifetime limits with the adoption of annual cost-share limits and the new producer definition;
• Only one program administrator in a county for the County Agriculture Investment Program;
• Standardize the producer application and scoring system, so that the same criteria and scoring will be used across the Commonwealth.

There will be an opportunity at the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy’s 2009 Annual Meeting to discuss these concepts with GOAP staff, KADB members and others during the afternoon session titled, “Model Program Forum”.

To access the detailed document of policy concepts visit http://agpolicy.ky.gov and click on the link “Policy Concepts”. Please submit any comments or suggestions no later than January 31, 2009 to govkyagpolicy@ky.gov. When providing comments or suggestions please reference the concept number located on the policy concept document.

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