KY Farm proposals presented to Governor
Posted on January 26, 2008
The Courier Journal newspaper reports that on Friday January 25 2008, a 5 year plan outlining various KY farm proposals was presented to Kentucky Governor Beshear. The plan has a wealth of ideas and recommendations that include: qualifying animal health, acquiring more large animal vets into KY, and the promotion of biofuels as an alternative to oil based ones.
This initiative was begun by the previous Governor, Ernie Fletcher last year – and has been prepared by approximately 50 organizations across Kentucky. Governor Beshear’s first response was that meeting all of the actions called for in the proposal, would most likely be limited by a tight state budget.
Its an important topic – Kentucky farms are the backbone of the state, and keeping them viable, and productive helps ensure that the rest of KY remains in a good posture.
Additional concepts recommended in the proposal include: up to date large animal centers that can diagnosis problems quickly, placing 50% of the tobacco settlement funds into an agricultural farms development allocation, and placing a $15.8 million in annual costs for water & sewer projects into the Kentucky general budget – instead of the agriculture fund where it is currently placed.
Of course, all of this is over the course of several years. The plan presented calls for a 5 year action for implementation and the various items would be phased in as to not disrupt the other processes that are occuring.
One interesting proposal to attract large animal vets (horse, cow, etc), would possibly be student loan forgiveness for veterinary students if they establish their business in underserved and needed areas. Another idea to help get these new vets established would be to waive the sales tax for animal pharmaceuticals so that they could ensure they would have the funds for the latest and broadest of medicines that would be available for care of horses, cows, etc.
And finally, there is on the table a proposal for KY Farms that were hurt by the drought this past summer that would provide some relief by providing $20 million (of the $117 million expected this year) from tobacco settlement to go toward farms in KY. These monies would help recoup some of the losses that farms in Kentucky have absorbed over the past year, to get them going again for 2008.
» Filed Under Kentucky Horse Farms and Real Estate Tips, Lexington Kentucky, Louisville KY
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