Home

Contact information

Agriculture
Project Managers

Rural Economic
Development

Process Innovation

Byproduct
Processing

Kentucky Enrichment has proposed a plan to demonstrate sustainable and innovative agricultural techniques on a portion of approximately 2000 acres of coal company owned property in one parcel in Ohio County Kentucky.

About 1200 acres of this property is leased to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to supervise the property for hunting and fishing. The balance is leased for commercial farming by the coal company. The government supervised portion of the property is the area which had been mined or parcels not usually suitable for farming.

Some of the issues involved in wildlife preservation and management in Kentucky involve the practices of farmers. Fence row to fence row farming, applications of herbicide and pesticide, and excess fertilizer run off are major contributors involving the health and diversity or local flora and fauna.

This parcel of reclaimed strip mine property offers multiple opportunities for Kentucky to demonstrate the applications of sustainable agriculture and farm diversity. This property can be a model of environmentally responsible farming techniques. It can demonstrate that alternative practices are able to provide an above average return while accommodating indigenous wildlife.

We propose to sublease this property from the Department for the purposes of expanding the educational and farm demonstration program formulated by Daviess County with the support of the Governor’s Ag Policy Board, the Department of Agriculture and USDA. Currently the Daviess County project demonstrates sustainable and innovative agricultural techniques for the benefit of Kentucky farmers interested in alternative programs. It also provides learning and laboratory opportunities for Brescia University Biology Department, the Owensboro Community College Ag Tech program as well as the ag tech programs of 3 of the county and city high schools.

This project will expand the educational outreach to the other three community college ag tech programs as well as the high school agriculture programs of Ohio, Webster, McLean and Muhlenburg Counties.

As important as the interface with the schools, however, will be the demonstration of full sized commercial agriculture techniques for the benefit of the farm community. By showing the advantages of sustainable farming, both economically and environmentally, the project will promote less intense agricultural practices. By providing increased focus on soil health and water quality while improving the return compared to traditional farming we will open the industry to stepping outside the conventional rotation of corn, soybeans and wheat. Even livestock will be raised in a more responsible manner while improving returns. Cattle, goats, sheep, poultry, even small animal production and aquaculture will be produced using sustainable techniques which preserve and enhance the natural assets of the site.

The interest of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife does not compete with the interest of the farm community. In some cases modern agricultural practices do not accommodate the local fin and fur but that does not have to be the case. We will demonstrate agricultural techniques which are at least as profitable to the farmers, more considerate of the wildlife and much more responsible environmentally than conventional practices.

The farming practices common two generations ago which maintained the rural communities and the small family farms are, for the most part, lost to us. By reviving them in the modern economy we will show that the practices which preserved the rural way of life also preserved the rural environment.