FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, July 13, 2007

For more information contact:
Ted Sloan

(502) 564-4696

ted.sloan@ky.gov

TASK FORCE FOCUSES ON SPECIFIC ISSUES
FACING KENTUCKY AGRICULTURE

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky farm leaders narrowed the scope of their strategic plan in the second meeting of the Kentucky Agriculture Council’s Task Force on the Future of Agriculture in Somerset, Ky.

Task Force members worked on creating strategies, key action plans, and benchmarks to address challenges and opportunities in education, rural communities, labor, alternative fuels/energy, health care, and agricultural production and marketing. In creating these items they were asked to keep in mind the Task Force’s vision statement: “Together we will develop the conditions that will enable our agricultural sectors and our rural communities to prosper.”

“I am truly amazed at the great start that we made here today, said Tony Brannon, dean of the Murray State University School of Agriculture and chair of the Task Force. “We look forward to the end result of presenting a strategic plan that will become a living document aimed at promoting agriculture development in Kentucky.”

“Priorities were established today that before would not have been discussed,” said Harvey Mitchell, director of agriculture outreach for the Center for Rural Development in Somerset, which hosted the meeting. “There is a new emphasis on building partnerships within the agriculture community that address our combined future.”

“It was a difficult process but everyone worked together to set aside individual entity goals and focused on moving all of Kentucky agriculture forward,” said Michael Judge, executive director of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Office of Agriculture Marketing and Product Promotion. “It was gratifying to see such diverse groups come together with a uniform message.  A lot of progress was made today.” 

The topics resulted from a survey of 45 agricultural organizations across the Commonwealth that were asked to identify critical challenges and emerging opportunities for their respective industries, agriculture sectors and rural communities.

Murray State University will host the third meeting of the task force on July 25. At that meeting task force members will refine the compiled strategies, action plans, and benchmarks, making additions if they deem it necessary. The Task Force is working toward developing a final strategic plan for Kentucky agriculture by the end of the year.

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