By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The 91st Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) annual meeting saw policies adopted, officers elected and a host of meetings in topics ranging from tobacco production to the outlook for next year’s growing season.

KFB President Mark Haney, a Pulaski County farmer, was elected to a third term while Webster County’s Eddie Melton was elected to fill the vacant role of first vice president and Hart County’s J. Fritz Giesecke was elected second vice president.

Haney said Kentucky’s agriculture industry remains resilient and has changed over the last 10 years. “Changes just happen. Tobacco has been such an attention getter over the years and we still pay a lot of attention to tobacco, but it is declining (but) farmers are resilient and something else will step up I think, and take the place of those declining commodities,” he said.

“We are seeing a lot of diversification. Where I live, we have lots of farmers that spend part of the time in either vegetable production, the wine business, maybe a young orchard or greenhouse operation. That’s not their largest farm-gate receipt but when you have enough of it, it begins to add up and it makes a difference.”

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture experts held their annual ag outlook press conference during the KFB meeting and noted farm cash receipts may reach the $5 billion mark in 2011.

In his keynote speech, Haney said issues affecting the livestock and poultry industries are at the forefront of Kentucky agriculture’s agenda for 2011. He also said the development of federal rules for tracing animal diseases, regulating marketing contracts between farmers and buyers and assuring that all farmers have access to a dead-stock removal system are issues important to state producers.

With the USDA working on a traceback system for livestock, Haney told members a viable system would also provide consumers with further assurances of a safe food supply.

“We cannot afford glitches in the processing and distribution systems,” he said. “Food safety problems always impact the farm economy. We should support safeguards to ensure that the commodities we produce become safe food products.”

Haney also said agriculture itself is important to the economic well-being of rural communities.

“I think people forget that the backbone of the economy in rural Kentucky is agriculture. From one end of the state to the other, it’s dependent on agriculture and when agriculture has a tough year, those little communities have a tough year,” he said. “Fortunately, through diversification and the many things going on right now, we’ve kind of bounced back.”

But Haney noted when farmers are looking at high prices for their commodities, they are probably looking at high input costs, as well.

In his address to members he recommended they take an active stance against special interest groups that have attacked agriculture, such as groups for animal welfare, food safety and the environment.

“This nonstop criticism of contemporary agriculture is something we must take seriously,” said Haney. “It is vital to communicate about our values and how we continue to produce safe and affordable food in a humane and environmentally-friendly manner.

“We must not let the activists and self-appointed food experts drive a wedge between us. We cannot be idle when others are seeking to reshape our industry to fulfill their idea of how agriculture should look. We must do a better job of telling our story.”

Some of the state issues on the KFB radar in coming months include maintaining the funding level for Kentucky’s agricultural development initiative, which uses tobacco settlement funds, permanent repeal of the estate tax and maintaining sales tax exemptions for production agriculture.

Other legislative priorities include funding for Murray State University’s Breathitt Veterinary Center; continued funding of the Soil Erosion and Water Quality Cost-Share Program; ensuring that steep increases in property taxes are subject to voter referendum; protecting the rights of landowners when dealing with regional planning issues, eminent domain laws or smart growth initiatives; and broadening the representation of production agriculture on the State Board of Agriculture, which is involved in developing livestock care standards for Kentucky.