There will have to be enough bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy to feed the 400-plus people who are expected to attend Saturday’s 40th annual Farm City Breakfast, presented by the Kentucky Farm Bureau of Daviess County and the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, at 7:30 a.m. in the Daviess County High School cafeteria.
This year’s crowd will likely quadruple the number that attended the first Farm City Breakfast when it was officially held on Dec. 13, 1979, at Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn and drew about 125 people.
J.R. Strode, a Stanley farmer who saw the need for diversification on Daviess County farms, was one of the speakers on that inaugural day.
“I’m concerned we’ve made too big a shift away from diversification,” said Strode at the first Farm City Breakfast. “Every time a 4-inch rain comes, if you live on the river like me or on Panther Creek, you see the soil coming downstream. I’m concerned about the future of the county with too much grain farming.”
Strobe was able to express his concerns not only to his fellow crop growers but to city officials and business leaders as well.
And at that time, the breakfast was sponsored by what was known then as the Owensboro-Daviess County Chamber of Commerce.
The late Tom Curtsinger, Daviess County’s extension agent for agriculture from 1968 to 1990, is credited as the one who brought the idea of a farm city breakfast to local leaders.
As the breakfast has continued over the past four decades, its purpose has been to allow farm and city folks to rub elbows once a year, and to hear from those who are impacted economically or trying to make a difference within both the agricultural and business communities.
And for many of those years, Daviess County farmers Mack Estes and Gary Cecil have been part of the Ag Task Force, which helps plan the breakfast with the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce.
“Agriculture started working with the Chamber and then got to be several members from the ag community and from the Chamber,” Estes said. “…It got to be such a good thing we wanted the (Kentucky) Farm Bureau to be part of it.”
Cecil said having both farm and business communities joining voices annually has always been an important endeavor.
“We need to work together as one community,” said Cecil, who is a West Louisville farmer. “…And everybody looks forward to (the breakfast) as a social event. They get to talk to people and see faces they may not get to see for another year.”
The breakfast was held at Moonlite from 1979 to 1983.
Starting in 1984, the meeting site was changed to Apollo High School where it would stay for the next 30 years.
In 2014, the breakfast was moved to DCHS where it has remained.
“We kind of outgrew Apollo; we could only handle so many and we had to look for a larger place,” Estes said.
Along with the food, keynote speakers have been a traditional staple of the breakfasts.
Among the past speakers have been U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie and longtime farm broadcaster Jack Crowner.
State Ag Commissioner Ryan Quarles is slated to be this year’s speaker.
Quarles said he will touch on the issues of agricultural literacy, industrial hemp, new farm technologies and other crops that can be grown in Kentucky.
“I have attended this breakfast several times in the past and your community has a long tradition of connecting the rural community with the urban community, which serves as an example of how it should be done all across Kentucky,” Quarles said. “…This breakfast will allow me to talk about food — something that connects everyone together regardless of where they come from in life.”
In 2009, the Humanitarian Award, which was established to recognize those who have made a difference in the community, became a featured presentation of the breakfast.
Rick Kamuf was the first recipient. Since then, the award has gone to Thompson Homes in 2010; Angels for Ashley in 2011; Jeff Lashbrook in 2012; Tom & Rose Curtsinger in 2013; Ottie Pantle in 2014; C. Waitman Taylor in 2015; Virginia Braswell in 2016; police and first responders in 2017; and agriculture educators in 2018.
Braswell, who is Habitat for Humanity of Owensboro-Daviess County’s executive director, said she was caught off guard by the award.
“I was asked to go but I thought I was there to just say a little something about Habitat,” said Braswell about receiving the award three years ago. “…This was a confirmation or stamp of approval that you’re doing this right.”
The Farm City Breakfast also accepts sponsorships that are $50 each. Anyone interested can contact the Chamber at 270-926-1860.
Candance Brake, the Chamber’s president and CEO, said the breakfast will be a time to “reflect on how we are all in this together.”
“The common ground that traditional business owners and farmers have is so vast,” Brake said. “They both give their heart and soul to their operations. They both involve families. They both have to make payrolls and always adapt to stay ahead. And they both make great personal sacrifice. This event is a way to celebrate what farming means to Daviess County and how it truly impacts each and every person who lives here.”
By Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer