<b>By TIM THORNBERRY<br>
Kentucky Correspondent</b> </p><p>

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky agency charged with overseeing the distribution of millions of tobacco settlement dollars annually has a new leader as the leadership in Frankfort changes.</p><p>
Kentucky’s new governor Steve Beshear announced on Dec. 26 that Roger Thomas will lead the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy (GOAP.) Beshear, a former Lt. Governor beat incumbent Ernie Fletcher in November’s election.</p><p>
Thomas, who officially started this week, most recently served as executive director of the Kentucky Dairy Development Council and is a former state representative for the 21st district in the Kentucky General Assembly from 1996-2004. During his entire tenure he served on the Agriculture and Small Business Committee, serving as Chairman from 2000-04.</p><p>
“Roger’s extensive experience will allow him to serve the Commonwealth’s agriculture community well by administering the Agriculture Development Fund and serving the needs of the Agriculture Development Board,” said  Beshear. “His experience will also benefit rural areas of the state as he works to diversify Kentucky’s agriculture economy.”</p><p>
Thomas’ resume includes serving as co-founder and co-chair of the National Legislative Agriculture Chairs Summit from 2002-04 where he  remains on the Executive Committee; he chaired the Agriculture and International Trade Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures Agriculture and Rural Development Committee; chaired the Southern States Bio-Based Energy Alliance and the Council on State Government Agriculture and Rural Development Committee; co-chaired the Kentucky Tobacco Settlement Oversight Committee; served on the Tobacco Task Force, the Kentucky Aquaculture Task Force and the council of State Government Agriculture Policy Task Force. Thomas said he sees more investment in research and development by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB) as well as in production agriculture in the future.</p><p>
“I believe sometime in the future we’ll see a trend from KADB in doing more funding for research and development-type projects as we continue to move forward in alternative fuels and bio-energy. I think the KADB will want to pursue that even more than we are today. I think the opportunity is there and I think there is an opportunity to benefit agriculture and farmers in Kentucky,” said Thomas. “I do believe there needs to be investments in research and development to kind of pave the way to allow us to show the benefits to farmers in that area.”</p><p>
Thomas also said Board investments can benefit small operations as well as larger farms.</p><p>
“I believe the KADB, especially in the near term, will continue to make investments in production agriculture and I hope that they will be investments that benefit not only large farms but small farms. We have to find ways to bring everyone along and find ways that small farmers with 30 acres can benefit from this fund just like growers and farmers with 3,000 acres can.”</p><p>
Thomas noted remarks from Beshear’s inauguration speech regarding farming when he talked about raising the level for agriculture both large and small farms saying that was refreshing to hear. “I know he’s (Beshear) is committed to that as I am. I think we are in for a wonderful four years in terms of working relationships.”</p><p>
The KADB, which is overseen by the GOAP, was created by the 2000 General Assembly to distribute 50 percent of the state monies received from the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) for the
general purpose of agricultural development in Kentucky. The funds, according to the GOAP, are invested in innovative proposals meant to increase net farm income and help “tobacco-impacted communities and agriculture across the state by stimulating markets for Kentucky agricultural products, finding new ways to add value to Kentucky agricultural products, and exploring new opportunities for Kentucky farms.”</p><p>
By the end of 2006, the KADB had invested approximately $212 million of Agricultural Development Funds (ADF) known as Phase I funds, in the state’s agricultural diversification efforts with nearly $40 million in fiscal 2006 alone. A current study by the University of Kentucky has been examining the effectiveness of the ADF investments. Early tentative findings of large and medium projects indicated that 93 percent of funded projects reported an increase in net farm income while 97 percent reported help for tobacco farmers and tobacco-impacted communities according study surveys. The research project will continue this year with evaluations of smaller projects and a complete report expected by mid-summer.</p><p>
The GOAP touts county fund investments as being the “backbone of this diversification effort in Kentucky and have been partly responsible for the improvements and growth in the beef cattle industry and many other areas of production agriculture.”
More than $129 million in county funds have been invested since the spring of 2001.