Grasshoppers
The demand for the diversity of Kentucky Proud farm fresh products has grown across the Commonwealth in the last several years, but getting products from the farm to the markets has remained a challenge for many small farmers.
Marshall County Co-op
In Marshall County when you hear someone talking about the Co-op, it isn’t a commodity receiving station they are referring to; it is the long standing farm supply store. Over the seventy odd years it has been in operation, the Marshall County Co-op has moved around the area and gone through several marketing changes but its status as a member based cooperative remains.
Chaney's Dairy Barn
Dairy farming was always a way of life for Carl and Debra Chaney. Raised on adjoining dairy farms in rural Warren County they had known each other all their life, but it was when Carl’s family returned to the farm after moving away for a few years for the two to take notice of each other as more than neighbors.
Lake Cumberland Milling
Establishing a single business venture can be a frustrating and challenging endeavor. Add to that venture two other established businesses, and the challenges and opportunities grow exponentially. Lake Cumberland Milling (LCM) in Monticello is an example of a merger of businesses that has given the owners a dynamic challenge with a lot of potential.
Kentucky Speciality Grains
The story of Kentucky Specialty Grains (KSG), is a story of agriculture entrepreneurs. It is the story of Kentucky farmers that had the vision to look beyond how things had always been done, to capture new opportunities. The story of farmers so committed to their core objective of helping others that they were willing to step away from a project when it would not be in the best interest of the group. It is a story that has only reached the intermission, and the players are now getting ready for the second act.
Burton Livestock
Harold and Shannon Burton don’t see themselves as entrepreneurs; in fact they still refer to their growing custom heifer business as “the farm”. Yet, they will admit that the road they have chosen to travel down in their family farming operation has not been the traditional.
Processors Find a Custom Niche
Foothills County Meats (Foothills) began in the late 1990’s when Curtis Harris and other innovative hog farmers in the Wayne County area decided to look at the opportunity to market home grown pork.
Yet to garnish a high profit for their finished hogs, they would have to add value to the meat. The answer was simple; provide customers with a high quality product in the cuts they want.
Branding Kentucky Beef—Green River Cattle Company
Green River Cattle Company (GRCC) has become synonymous with Kentucky Proud all natural quality beef in restaurant circles across the state. Now, GRCC will garnish international attention as it becomes apart of a Kentucky meal fit for a Queen at the 2007 Kentucky Derby.
Reinventing the Market—Lexington Farmers Market
Lexington Farmers’ Market is one of the largest farmers’ markets in Kentucky, with over 60 members selling at five markets at four locations four days a week. Yet, this bustling and diverse market did not develop overnight.
