Kentucky

The First Friday Breakfast for the KY College of Agriculture, Food and Environment featured KY AgrAbility as the guest speaker. This event was attended by faculty, staff, and community leaders, giving KY AgrAbility a chance to talk to those not familiar with the program.

The wettest February on record is finally over. Major flooding left KY farmers wading in mud and delaying some of the farm work. What better way to spend the day than going to the 53rd National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. 1.3 million square feet of exhibit space and almost 900 vendors, with over 300,000 attendees, makes for a great experience. Ky AgrAbility is proud to have been there since the 1990's. The four-day show features everything from small garden tractors and garden equipment, to seeders and balers, harvesters, and remote-control tractors that make farming look easy;the key words being: "look easy". This was also a time for staff to catch up with some of their consumers and friends. Friday was the "KY/TN Farmer Summit" hosted by the KY Agriculture Council and featuring KY and TN Ag Commissioners. KY AgrAbility and TN AgrAbility were invited to participate in the round table discussions at the end of the summit. It was a great four days and ended with a surprise snow event on Saturday.

Mike Lewis was able to break away from the farm show to present at the February Third Thursday Event at the KSU Demonstration Farm in Frankfort. He spoke on AgrAbility: Accessible Opportunities. The topic for the month of March will be on goats.

April 14th will be the KY AgrAbility workshop for veteran and beginning farmers, "Cultivating Accessible Opportunities for Veterans in Agriculture: A Beginning Farmer Training." This workshop will be held at the KSU Demonstration Farm south of Frankfort. Topics will include farm planning, water quality plans, adaptive solutions, and several other subjects. The demonstrations at the end of the day will include hands-on building and planting of accessible raised beds, demonstrations of modified farm equipment, and modified vans and trucks. This should be a great day full of activities and learning opportunities for everyone.

Submitted by Linda Bokros