KY Hort Council Grants VIII

Agricultural Development Funds invested though the Kentucky Horticulture Council have supported the expansion and profitability of Kentucky horticultural crop production. Working in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture (UKCA), the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA), and other many other partners, the Kentucky Horticulture Council (KHC) has supported applied research, on-farm demonstration projects, and paid direct benefits to support marketing and promotion activities. The Horticulture Department, on behalf of the University of Kentucky¡¦s College of Agriculture, proposes the following three program objectives for 2017 with anticipation of a 1-year extension of the grant with 2018 funding. On-Farm Demonstration and Consultation The purpose of this objective is to educate farm families in the daily management of horticultural enterprises through on-farm demonstrations, on-farm consultation, tours, field days and workshops. Based on the successes of smaller, targeted programs, the strategy of this element of the KADF grant to the KHC is to provide direct assistance to farm families across Kentucky through field staff with specific crop expertise. In all cases, the demonstrations teach profitable production and marketing systems and strategies. Full-day programs that train managers and other personnel have proven to be an important element in integrating new growers into the informal marketing system and educating them of market requirements. The program will include targeted programs for on-farm demonstration and consultation in six geographic areas and horticulture commodity combinations. The Plan of Work for 2017 will be finalized in consultation with KHC in February, 2017 but will likely include vegetable crops in central Kentucky, nursery crops in western Kentucky, greenhouse/floriculture crops in central Kentucky, fruit/vegetable crops in central Kentucky, nursery crops in central Kentucky and vegetable crops in west central Kentucky for the 2017 growing season. Specific 2017 goals include: „h Increased attendance at annual meetings, field days, grower meetings, and extension activities by helping member organizations build their own capacity. „h Increased number of growers receiving newsletters, e-alerts, or other informational materials. „h Extension Associates will track the number of growers in each county and the number of crops represented in their work. „h The annual goal for the 5 field staff (Extension Associates in Horticulture) funded by this grant plus the one funded by the UK Horticulture Department, is to make 500 on-farm visits, distribute 24 updates/alerts to targeted farmer distribution lists, organize/participate in 12 field days and farm tours, provide 15 educational meeting programs/presentations to targeted audiences, and post 5 new YouTube videos. „h Case studies or success stories that are advancing horticulture production and marketing of 20 individual farms or groups of farmers will be documented. Development and Evaluation of Production and Marketing Systems The purpose of this objective is to conduct field research on production and marketing systems to increase the production efficiency, volume and quality of selected horticultural products demanded, or accepted, by the market. This portion of the grant multiplied the impact of the effort and infrastructure of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station addressing the needs and opportunities of the horticulture industry. The UK Horticulture Department will develop a 2017 Plan of Work for this field research in concert with the KHC in February, 2017. Between 20 and 30 trials will be conducted among the three UK horticulture research farms, depending upon the required management and labor intensity of those trials. In addition, there will be 10 to 15 trials funded by other sources (industry, competitive grants, etc.) for which the KHC funds will provide some degree of support to multiply the impact. Horticulture Market Research, Analysis, and Marketing Education Horticulture market research, analysis and grower/marketer education will be conducted through a multi-faceted approach to meet the immediate needs of horticulture enterprise managers and state agriculture/horticulture leaders. Areas targeted include products, support and presentations relative to local branding programs, the KY Association of Food Banks, Kentucky produce auctions, farm market price reporting, value-added marketing support for individuals and groups, MarketReady efforts for specialty food producers, CSA business development and economics, evaluation of wholesale market opportunities, and a green industry buyers survey. The 2017 Plan of Work for this objective will be finalized in February, 2017 in concert with the KHC and the Project Co-PI in Agricultural Economics. The output will include KY Proud impact research, KADFs, etc. with corresponding reports. We track producer participation and probably business development related to most of these. We will provide numbers related to price report usage and can suggest targets of food bank, auction and farm market use increasing by 20% by the end of the project. We hope to reach 40 new specialty crop producers through the targeted MarketReady for specialty foods over the next two years. CSA business growth will be measured in terms of number of CSA operations (expanding from 46 to 60) and number of shareholders, which we will start measuring after some benchmark surveys. Buyer surveys are relatively specialized but provide critical market information to key industry leaders in wholesale produce, restaurant markets, grape & wine producers, and green industry growers.