SE KY Health and Education Farm to Institution Program

Local food landscape analysis for Southeastern Kentucky The Food Connection (TFC), an applied food systems institute anchored in the College of Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at the University of Kentucky, exists to serve farmers, food producers, students, and consumers by cultivating creative strategies and partnerships to support a vibrant, healthy, and equitable local food economy. As a part of the land-grant mission, we support innovative and interdisciplinary instruction and research, and deliver high-impact services and programs that support local food systems development. TFC proposes to do a landscape analysis in Eastern Kentucky, particularly in Perry, Breathitt, Knott, Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, and Owsley counties, to assess the potential supply of local farm products that could be sold to a commercial operator locating at the God’s Pantry/Warehouses 4 Good facility in Perry County. The Food Connection is well positioned to lead this work because of its recently launched Kentucky Value Chain Collaborative and its extensive relationships with key local food systems stakeholders in Eastern Kentucky. The Kentucky Value Chain Collaborative, spearheaded by The Food Connection, is intended to bolster the “soft infrastructure” of Kentucky’s local food supply chain by cultivating meaningful and sustainable markets for farmers, their local food products, and relationships with scale-appropriate distribution channels. The Kentucky Value Chain Collaborative team is led by Dr. Ashton Potter Wright, Executive Director of The Food Connection and includes three regional Value Chain Coordinators (VCCs)—Heather Graham (Eastern Kentucky), Faye Kuosman (Central Kentucky), and Brandi Button Johnson (Western Kentucky). The VCCs serve a variety of roles (market matchmaking, technical assistance, relationship building, innovating ideas, resource prospecting, research & assessment) to meet farmers where they are and assist them with selling their products and meeting the demand for locally grown food in a coordinated and collaborative way. The VCCs are each responsible for one of the three Extension Administrative Regions–West, Central, and East–and leverage the UK Cooperative Extension network, regional universities and stakeholders, and infrastructure to amplify their connections to farmers, buyers, and stakeholders in each of the three regions. These VCCs work collaboratively with existing partners and organizations involved in VCC work while serving as anchor personnel whose primary function is to develop intentional, transparent, and sustainable relationships with farmers, processors, distributors, and buyers in their regions. The VCCs work across commodities (produce, protein, small grains, dairy, value-added products, etc.) and regularly convene meetings and/or conduct site visits with farmers, processors, distributors, and buyers to continue to build sustainable and equitable local food value chains in Kentucky. Dr. Ashton Potter Wright, Executive Director of The Food Connection and Heather Graham, Eastern Kentucky Value Chain Coordinator, will collect the data and write up the findings. They will leverage farmers in their networks as well as local food systems partner organizations including, but not limited to, UK and KSU Cooperative Extension, Kentucky Horticulture Council, Grow Appalachia, Community Farm Alliance, the Organic Association of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Data to be compiled/analyzed: • USDA Ag Census Data • KCARD Story Maps • 1:1 interviews with farmers and Extension Agents in EKY—specifically in Perry, Breathitt, Knott, Letcher, Harlan, Leslie, and Owsley counties. Questions to ask in 1:1 interviews with farmers: • Name, size, location of farm • Types of products being grown, by county • Current market channels • Desired market channels • On-farm infrastructure + delivery capacity • Willingness to pursue a third-party GAP audit • Willingness / capacity to grow the farm business • Needs from potential aggregator/distributor (days/hours to accept deliveries, wash/pack facility available, etc.)