FRANKFORT, Ky. — As the move toward local foods and the growth of local food economies continues, the state’s horticulture industry has seen gains over the last few years.

Recently, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB) approved the Kentucky Horticulture Council, Inc. (KHC) for $1.3 million in state funds to be disbursed over two years, to continue the expansion of and increase profitability for horticulture crop producers in Kentucky, according to information from the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy.

Jeff Hall, the executive director of KHC, said the organization, which is nearly 25 years old, is actually made up of other groups.

“The council sort of came together to pull the different segments of horticulture together; fruit growers, vegetable growers, landscapers and groups like that, to come up with a more cohesive voice of what was needed in horticulture,” he said.

Hall added over the last 10 years the organization has been the group that manages Kentucky Agriculture Development Funds (KADF) grant funds. With the growth of the industry, that money seems to be paying off.

Last year, despite the bad weather, the horticulture sector fared well. Tim Woods, an extension professor in the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics, said the sector continues to see growth and 2012’s cash receipts should be around $121 million.

“In its own way, (horticulture) has been responding to a lot of efforts that we’ve put in the state to try and encourage diversification, particularly on the produce side,” he added. “Despite some impacts from the recession, we’re still looking at a pretty strong year with a number of different factors contributing to it.”

Hall said the funding is broken down into categories such as research trials and production systems, marketing studies and cost share programs, with the biggest portion going to sponsor on-farm demonstration projects across the state.

“We work with the extension service to put extension associates out in the field working with growers primarily who are trying horticulture for the first time. They may have been farming for years, but want to diversify and get into some other enterprise, and they’ve chosen horticulture,” he said. 

Those growers in turn put on field days and work with demonstration projects to bring in other farmers, to see what is going on in the industry.

“We’ve gone from a state that really had an industry for years, but what we’ve seen is a growth in that sector and it’s really helped by the fact that there is an increase in the interest in locally produced products,” Hall said. “We don’t believe we are even close to reaching whatever the potential is out there.”

He thinks the number of people wanting to get into the industry is growing because they are seeing the potential of the markets and know those markets will be around for a long time.

The impact the industry has had on the economy has not gone without notice. Agriculture in general plays a big role in local economies, and a recent economic impact study conducted by UK for the Fayette County area noted ag business accounts for one in nine jobs and $2.4 billion in annual revenue.

According to information from UK, “Of the roughly $2.4 billion this cluster generates in revenue annually, income, profits and dividends account for $1.3 billion. Finally, an estimated $66 million is collected from state income tax and sales tax, as well as approximately $7 million in occupational license taxes for Fayette County.”

The study was conducted at the request of the Fayette County Farm Bureau. Past president Todd Clark said the project contains some important data that can be used to raise awareness and promote discussion of the agriculture cluster’s importance to the county.

Fayette County is home to the state’s largest farmers’ market, which brings dozens of local farmers in contact with a largely urban customer base and demonstrates a strong horticulture presence.

Kentucky as a whole enjoys a vast marketing program, Kentucky Proud, that helps those vendors find a market. Hall said one thing the KHC points out when requesting funds is in order for a program like Kentucky Proud to succeed with quality products, it has to begin at the farm level.

“The investments here help Kentucky Proud to be more successful because we have a better mix of products and better quality products that are going into that marketplace,” he said.

While last year proved to be tough, Hall said the industry did well because of factors like better management practices and that the horticulture sector is solid enough to withstand such a difficult growing season.

“That really goes back to the KADF supporting these kinds of activities. We wouldn’t have the market stability and we wouldn’t have the level of production we have today without those investments,” he said.

The KHC anticipates nearly 8,000 farm families will benefit either directly or indirectly from the investment made by the KADB. To learn more about the KHC, email office@horticulture.org