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Lawrence Jenkins demonstrates
sorghum processing with small, portable equipment, part of Kentucky
State University’s workshops to improve practices among
owners of small farms.
– Photo by John Cosby Jr. |
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In Kentucky, where the rolling
hills sustain the world’s finest thoroughbreds but are home to some
of the country’s worst poverty, Kentucky State University (KSU) is
trying to improve life for area farmers. An ongoing series of educational
events, heavily reliant upon agricultural demonstrations, has introduced
thousands of Kentuckians to profit-making, sustainable farming techniques.
The brainchild of KSU’s
Marion Simon – who feels that the best way to understand agricultural
research is to see it working on the ground, not in a seminar or presentation
– the Third Thursday training program has become a hugely popular
way to train Kentucky extension agents, paraprofessionals and farmers
in the gamut of sustainable agriculture techniques.
Simon and others have brought
about 2,500 people through the university’s research farm in six
years, up to 400 per field day, to see demonstrations of aquaculture,
apiary production, organic fruit and vegetable production, sustainable
forestry, grain storage, goat production, warm-season grass demonstrations
and composting – to name just a few topics. In essence, Simon took
the old adage, “seeing is believing,” and opened KSU’s
research center to hordes hungry for information.
The Third Thursday program
is funded in part by SARE and is now being copied at Tennessee State University
as the Third Tuesday training program.
The KSU research farm was
designed to have group walks around the research projects. “That
way, agents and small farm assistants can actually see things growing
and be able to recognize them,” Simon said.
The farm workshops were
attended by ag educators eager for information about profitable, environmentally
sound alternative production systems they could pass on to their farmer
clients. As the word spread, farmers asked to come. Then, extension educators
from other states began making the trip to see if they could replicate
the idea.
“We’re working
with small farmers, many of whom are at poverty-level,” Simon said.
“These are farmers we know we have not seen at extension meetings,
ones with marginal land, capital and education. Kentucky is notorious
for people who don’t read and write well. Less than 30 percent of
people in some counties have finished high school.”
While the Third Thursdays
served as a conduit of information for many of those farmers, others benefit
from working with KSU small farmer assistants, or paraprofessionals, who
work one-on-one with farmers in their counties. In documenting their successes,
KSU Third Thursday leaders cited the following:
 After
numerous presentations about the use of cover crops, compost,
manure and green manures to improve the soil, more than 30 farmers
have adopted such systems.
After
a 1997 field day, five farmers constructed unheated greenhouses,
then returned to teach workshops to discuss their experiences.
All have expanded their green houses.
Ten
farm families who regularly attend KSU workshops developed a joint
community supported agriculture (CSA) operation and now raise
organic vegetables. Using some of the training about marketing
they learned at Third Thursday, the group developed a logo and
purchased a van for distribution.
A group of farmers and food-aware
non-farmers who met at Third Thursday formed a non-profit group, Partners
for Family Farms (PFF), to sustain family farms and rural communities
by linking urban consumers and farmers. The group also informs the public
at large about the benefits of purchasing local family farm products.
To help open new markets for meat products, PFF obtained grants from the
Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Heifer International and SARE to build
a mobile processing unit for small, independent Kentucky farmers.
The informality of the KSU
farm workshops adds to the welcoming atmosphere, said Simon, who once
asked a visiting presenter to take off his jacket and tie before addressing
the group. As a result, Third Thursday attracts diverse ethnic groups,
women and young mothers who bring children.
“The Third Thursday meetings draw farmers and ag professionals from
the highest income and education levels to the lowest,” Simon
said. “Together, they share their ideas and experiences to
help further our sustainable agriculture efforts.”
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Audience
Small-scale, low-income Kentucky farmers |
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Educating Team
Kentucky State University |
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Challenges Addressed
Marginal land
Little capital
Illiteracy
Distrust of government services |
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Connection Strategies
Training and supporting ag professionals and program assistants
Welcoming atmosphere for small-scale farmers |
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Teaching Methods
Field tours
Workshops
Hands-on demonstration |
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