It's official: Kentucky Proud is state's permanent farm marketing program
Commissioner Richie Farmer
Kentucky Proud is now the Commonwealth’s permanent farm marketing program. Growers and food businesses can participate in the program with the confidence that it will always be there for them. Consumers can be assured that there will always be one and only one symbol of Kentucky quality – the familiar blue, green and red Kentucky Proud logo.
In a ceremony June 25 at the state Capitol, Gov. Steve Beshear signed legislation putting Kentucky Proud into state law. My staff and I worked hard with legislators to draft this measure. I would like to thank the lawmakers who saw the wisdom of making permanent the brand that stands for fresh, delicious and nutritious Kentucky food, raised or processed with care in Kentucky by Kentuckians. These include Reps. Mike Denham (the principal sponsor), Tom McKee, and Ruth Ann Palumbo, and Senators Joey Pendleton and Robert Stivers, among many others.
In the last four years Kentucky Proud has grown from about three dozen members to more than 1,100 farmers, processors, retailers, restaurants and farmers’ markets. It generates tens of millions of dollars in retail sales of Kentucky food products annually, creating jobs in our big cities and our rural communities and enabling producers to make a living on the farm.
A farmers’ market was held in conjunction with the bill signing ceremony on the grounds behind the Capitol. Despite limited parking and short notice, hundreds of people came out to buy fruits, vegetables, flowers, plants, meat and other products from local producers. In the process they got to meet the people who made the products they were buying. I saw a lot of smiling faces and stuffed shopping bags. A few vendors ran out of products to sell. First Lady Jane Beshear organized this first-ever farmers’ market on the Capitol. I hope they’ll do it again.
The success of this event reiterates what I’ve been saying all along: People are clamoring for local food. They understand that fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown locally and harvested the day you buy them are more nutritious than those that travel hundreds of miles over a period of days or even weeks. They want to know that their food is OK to eat. Look, it’s been almost 11 weeks since the first cases of E.coli from tomatoes started popping up, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration still hasn’t said with any certainty where the contaminated tomatoes came from. But they have said they didn’t come from Kentucky.
More than 800 Kentucky food producers have been trained in Good Agricultural Practices to make sure their products are as safe as humanly possible. So buy Kentucky Proud for food products you can serve with the confidence that they will be good for your family.
