Kentucky Proud Holidays, 2018

Christmas music and snow fill the air in anticipation of the friends and family who will soon descend upon your homes to share food and memories. That requires a lot of preparation — especially if you want to make your holiday meal a Kentucky Proud feast.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s (KDA’s) team of marketing specialists is constantly working with family farmers and small food businesses to make sure you have access to the freshest agricultural products.

As subscribers to Edible Magazine, you share my commitment to buying and eating local. Those local foods that you demand are available as a result of the hard work of the Kentucky farmer. As your Commissioner of Agriculture, I am blessed to represent a state with a rich agricultural heritage and a strong network of farmers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, educators, government agencies, and others working together to get those products from the farm gate to your dinner plate.

Recently, the KDA, the Kentucky Vegetable Growers Association, and the Kentucky Horticulture Council hosted the second annual Kentucky Proud Produce Grower-Buyer Meet-Up at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. More than 100 producers, processors, retailers, nonprofits, educators, and food service systems met to share ideas and business opportunities. Events like these build relationships, which result in more Kentucky agricultural products in grocery stores across the state, a vision I know you share and support.

You demand local foods because you know that they are fresher, they are better, and they contribute to Kentucky’s economy by keeping your food dollars in the Commonwealth. It’s not a coincidence that Louisville is widely recognized as having one of the most vibrant local food systems in the nation, and Kentucky Proud is a model for state farm marketing programs.

Wendell Berry once said that “eating is an agricultural act.” During this holiday season, when so many Kentuckians are enjoying meals using locally-sourced foods and ingredients—or, as Wendell may say, participating in agricultural acts — let me be the first to thank you for being part of our agricultural economy.