KDA provides valuable services for Kentucky's youth

 

 

Commissioner Richie Farmer

 

Recently I had the opportunity to honor the winners of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s annual Poster and Essay Contest. Each of the winners in grades kindergarten through 12 received a $100 savings bond and an Honorary Commissioner of Agriculture certificate.

 

The young people we recognized at the luncheon were bright, enthusiastic and eager to learn. They and children like them lift my spirits and give me confidence in the future.

 

The Poster and Essay Contest is one of many activities of the Department’s agriculture education division designed to help Kentucky’s young people understand the significance of agriculture in their everyday lives. The agriculture education division also provides lesson plans and teacher workshops, helps get locally produced Kentucky Proud foods into school cafeterias, and sends two mobile science activity centers to schools all over Kentucky to enable students to perform hands-on experiments involving agriculture.

 

The KDA’s Division of Show and Fair Promotion gives hundreds of children an opportunity to exhibit livestock in shows throughout the state. In the process, they learn how to care for the animals they are showing, but they also learn important lessons about the value of hard work and discipline.

 

Since I took office in 2004, the Department has contributed nearly $600,000 to Kentucky 4-H and Kentucky FFA. Even though the Department has suffered tremendous budget cuts, I thought it was important to help these fine organizations fulfill their mission of molding tomorrow’s citizens.

 

It’s everybody’s responsibility to give our young people the education and experiences they need to succeed. That includes teaching them where their food comes from and how it’s produced. It’s one of the most important things we do here at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.