A report on how KCARD, the Kentucky Center for Ag and Rural Development, assisted ag entrepreneurs across the state qualify for $1.7 million in USDA value added grants to help take their new business ventures to the next level. Aaron Shapiro, KCARD grant facilitator, says most of their service are free and they stand ready to assist individuals with help from assessing their business’s chances to developing a business plan.

Kentucky and several other states face a shortage of large animal veterinarians in many parts of the state. Feldhaus reports on the Veterinary Technician program at Morehead State University.  Assistant professor, Amy Staton, talks about how vet techs can serve as a part of the solution to that problem.  She says their vet tech graduates are in very high demand these days.

Brad and Karen Hanes of Hart County were recently selected the 2016 Outstanding Young Farm Family for Kentucky. The couple received numerous cash and in-kind prizes, and will represent the state in national competition at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting this January in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Bracken County extension office often receives frequent calls about farm and garden losses from the high population of deer in that county.  Local extension agent, David Appelman, reached out to the local fish and wildlife official, and to hunters, to develop a plan to harvest more deer and reduce the herd, and to use that meat to help feed the hungry.

After a another year of low commodity and livestock prices, farmers were not expecting any bright spots in final projections for 2016 farm receipts, and the recent UK Ag Outlook news conference proved to confirm that. UK ag economist, Dr. Will Snell, provides details of those projections and some hope that we’re now in the bottom of this down cycle in ag prices.

CBOT futures closed mixed again today with minimal price changes. Futures climbed through the morning on good corn/bean export news, but began their sell-off about 11:15 CT.   Cattle futures traded lower for the first 30 minutes of trading but then trended higher the rest of the trading day; this resulted in very strong closes and the high end of the trading range.  Lean Hog futures gapped higher at the opening and never looked back, resulting in sharply higher closes near the day’s highs.

Corn, soybean and soybean meal futures closed strongly higher; wheat markets were mixed. Support for corn and soy futures came from strong export data which encouraged heavy fund buying especially in corn where short-covering magnified buying.

Kirby Green of Daviess County won first place in the final round of Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) Discussion Meet, a debate-styled competition for young farmers that relies on an individual’s skill in reasoning and logical discussion of issues.