FRANKFORT, Ky. — Last week, the Kentucky Agricultural Council released a draft strategic plan for agriculture to help lead the state’s agriculture industry into the future, after months of gathering information.

The challenge for the plan came earlier this year from Gov. Ernie Fletcher at the first Governor’s Summit on Agriculture, which brought hundreds of ag leaders from across the state together to accept the task of putting together ideas to enhance Kentucky agriculture.

“I challenge Kentucky agriculture to bring forward a plan that embraces the goals and objectives of the entire industry and creates a roadmap to guide our farm families to a brighter and more profitable tomorrow,” Fletcher said in March.

The initiative created the Task Force on the Future of Agriculture, comprised of representatives from farm organizations and entities. The group, through a series of meetings, worked on creating strategies, key action plans and benchmarks and, from a survey of 45 agricultural organizations across the state, developed topics that address challenges and opportunities in the areas of education, rural communities, labor, alternative fuels/energy, health care and agricultural production and marketing.

The plan offers a strategy to address concerns for each of the topics and will be taken to the public by way of a series of forums in October in six locations, as follows:

•Oct. 10 – 8-10 a.m. CDT at the Western Kentucky University Agricultural Expo Center in Bowling Green, and from 7-9 p.m. CDT at the Daviess County Cooperative Extension office in Owensboro

•Oct. 11 – 8-10 a.m. CDT at Murray State University Curris Center in Murray

•Oct. 15 – 7-9 p.m. EDT at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset

•Oct. 16 – 8-10 a.m. EDT at Morehead State University Conference Center in Morehead, and from 7-9 p.m. EDT at the E.S. Good Barn of the University of Kentucky-Lexington

Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) President Marshall Coyle serves on the task force and said the state ag industry looks bright despite the bad weather that has plagued farmers this year. He reiterated Fletcher’s comments about a roadmap “to a brighter and more profitable tomorrow.”

“I believe the task force has laid the groundwork for such a plan, and I urge KFB members and county Farm Bureau leaders to attend the nearest forum and provide input as the final plan is developed,” Coyle said. “Despite this year’s very challenging weather patterns, Kentucky’s agricultural economy is continuing to diversify and expand, and we need a long-range strategy to build on that momentum.”

A few of the strategies listed in the plan include encouraging “policymakers to make changes in the H2A program that would make it more farmer- and worker-friendly and provide employee benefits within the agriculture industry that make it more competitive with benefits offered in other industries.”

Concerning education, the plan lists strategies to increase the availability of agricultural education programs to youth and adults and “educate the general public and policymakers on the important role that agriculture still plays in our local, state and national economy and to our society.”

In the area of “Agriculture Production and Marketing,” the report noted that “it is vital to assure that all Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) proceeds are invested with a purpose of improving the net farm income of individual farmers engaged in production agriculture. The responsibility of state government should be to assume its historic obligation to use General Fund (Phase I) dollars to support basic agriculture and rural development programs, recognizing that ADF dollars were intended for strategic investments in new and expanding agriculture initiatives.”

The Council heads up the effort for developing the strategic plan for agriculture with Dr. Tony Brannon, Dean of Murray State University School of Agriculture, serving as chair. To see the complete strategic plan, visit www.kyag council.org or contact Brannon at 270-809-6923 or via e-mail at tony.brannon@murraystate.edu

This farm news was published in the Oct. 10, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.