Farm City Breakfast brings together farmers, leaders together
Community leaders and farmers, along with their friends and family, showed up Saturday morning at Daviess County High School for the 44th annual Farm City Breakfast sponsored by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Agriculture Committee and Kentucky Farm Bureau.
Jeff Nalley, a 30-year farm radio broadcast journalist and farmer, took to the podium to introduce various speakers to the audience who enjoyed a breakfast catered by Ole South BBQ. Students from local high school chapters of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) also helped out at the event.
Congressman Brett Guthrie, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky’s Second District since 2009, spoke to the crowd to address the current issues from Washington, D.C.
Guthrie made it clear that working to get the budget deficit under control was one of his biggest, long-term priorities in D.C., but he also pointed out a few other immediate items of consideration.
One item being the need to pass a government spending bill quickly ahead of the March 1 deadline in order to make sure the government avoids a shutdown.
“We’re making progress and we’ll come up with something,” Guthrie said. “I don’t think we’ll have a government shutdown.”
A government shutdown occurs when a spending bill required to finance the federal government is not enacted before the next fiscal year begins. Lawmakers in D.C. have flirted with a shutdown in recent months, but have avoided it by passing extensions and small funding bills to keep the government open.
During a government shutdown, the federal government limits the operations of government agencies and services and retains only essential employees in departments that protect human life or property. Those workers will continue to work through the shutdown period without receiving a paycheck.
“You’ve got to remember that if you shut down the government, our men and woman in the military don’t get their paychecks,” Guthrie said. “And they still have to show up for work. So, it’s not so simple to say ‘Let’s shut down the government to prove a point.’ ”
Guthrie also mentioned that working on a new farm bill is a priority.
“The current farm bill is still in place,” Guthrie said. “But I have to make sure the new bill contains crop insurance or else it won’t get my vote.”
The Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP), which began in the 1930s, became a key federal support program for agriculture in the United States. According to the USDA’s website, the FCIP “offers agricultural producers financial protection against losses due to adverse events including drought, excess moisture, damaging freezes, hail, wind, disease and price fluctuations.”
Guthrie ended his oration by discussing work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also being a primary issue for reform.
Candance Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said that farming and agriculture are a big part of Daviess County’s legacy.
“All of us in the community have ties to farming. Our community is a tapestry and each person plays a valuable role in the community,” Brake said. “Together, working together, we’re stronger as a community.”
Brandon Gilles, the first vice president of Daviess County Farm Bureau, spoke about the importance of farming and agriculture in Daviess County.
“Agriculture is a passion and it is not an easy job to feed the United States,” Gilles said.
Gilles announced recipients of various awards handed out through Kentucky Farm Bureau.
Gilles highlighted Apollo High School’s FFA president, Jacob Rudy, who also presented a speech that he had given to a Galt House audience in Louisville about the importance of Farm Bureau in Daviess County agriculture, as a youth leader for Farm Bureau.
Joan Hayden was recognized as Farm Woman of the Year Finalist for Daviess County. Alice Gilles was also recognized for representing Daviess County, and Kentucky, at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah last month.
Gilles also re-introduced the crowd to a new award from Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Legacy Farm Award, that began in 2023.
The award recognizes a family who has made a significant contribution to the farming community in Daviess County. The inaugural award went to Ebelhar Farms LLC.
Gilles concluded his speech with some statistics to back up the claim that Daviess County is “the agriculture hub in Kentucky.”
“There are 900 farm businesses, along with 240,000 acres of farmland in Daviess County,” Gilles said. “These numbers show that Daviess County is still a diverse agricultural community.”
The event’s keynote speaker, Ryan Quarles, the former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner who is now the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, spoke to the audience about education’s role in agriculture.
“Daviess County punches above its weight class with its agriculture output,” Quarles said.
Quarles also recognized the county’s farmers’ market and the generations of Daviess County farmers that make the farmers’ market so successful.
Speaking about how to ensure family farms are successful throughout generations, Quarles encouraged families to meet with estate planners in order to protect family farms from the “five D’s” that affect farmers — disease, divorce, death, drugs and drinking.
Quarles also mentioned his greatest accomplishment as the Kentucky agriculture commissioner was the partnership made with Kentucky county clerks that helped generate over $5 million for FFA and 4-H chapters in Kentucky.
At the end of the event, the 15th Farm City Humanitarian Award recipient was announced.
Ina Marie Bratcher, 94, who’s lived in Owensboro since the early 1950s, received this year’s award. Bratcher has been continually involved in the community as a friend, volunteer, missionary and much more. She’s traveled to all 50 states, all seven continents and at least 90 different countries.
Since 2012, Bratcher has been a fixture at the Owensboro Farmers’ Market selling baked goods, jams and jellies, along with fresh fruits and vegetables grown directly in her and her son’s garden.
A surprised Bratcher received her award and thanked community farmers.
“We need you,” Bratcher said to help encourage the farmers to stick around the agriculture business for the long haul.
By Michele Ruxer Messenger-Inquirer