Kentucky Proud Celebrates 20 Years of Elevating Agriculture and Local Products
In partnership with: Kentucky Department of Agriculture
The Kentucky Proud brand was established in 2004 by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture as a way to consolidate marketing efforts through a single platform. The program’s central mission is promoting and elevating the impact of Kentucky agriculture, both locally and beyond, said Alexis Smith, Kentucky Proud Director of Promotion and Development.
Kentucky businesses that grow, raise, or produce agricultural products can become members free of charge. More than 6,000 members enjoy several benefits, including increased market visibility, participation in various promotions and media campaigns, and grant opportunities available exclusively to members.
See more: Top Kentucky Agriculture Facts From the 2024 Census of Agriculture
Milking Marketing
Even experienced agriculturists like Carl Chaney’s family, who have deep roots in dairy farming, found they needed help when they branched out into other business ventures.
“My grandfather started milking cows in the 1940s, but we’ve been on the same land since the late 1800s,” said Elizabeth Lunsford, Chaney’s daughter.
Low commodity prices in the early 2000s influenced Lunsford’s father and mother, Debra, as well as other family members to seek alternative revenue streams. Chaney’s Dairy Barn outside Bowling Green started in 2003 with ice cream. A restaurant, ice cream concession trailers, farm tours, and other agritourism businesses soon followed.
In 2019, Lunsford opened J.R. Chaney Bottling Company, where the milk from Chaney Farm is pasteurized, allowing the sale of fluid milk and the making of Chaney’s Dairy Barn ice cream with milk from their own cows. The company name honors Lunsford’s grandfather.
Kentucky Proud membership helped make these ventures possible. Promotional grants provided a 50/50 match on Chaney’s milk labels.
“We did a whole rebranding and used Kentucky Proud grants in rewrapping all of our ice cream trailers,” Lunsford said. “The Kentucky Proud logo is front and center on all our mobile trailers, delivery vans, and delivery trucks, which are mobile billboards.”
Kentucky Proud also includes a Buy Local granting opportunity, where restaurants and food service institutions receive reimbursement incentives for purchase of Kentucky-grown or raised food. Lunsford said one of her valued customers, Spencer’s Coffee in Bowling Green, uses Chaney milk exclusively in their coffee.
“When they participate in Kentucky Proud, they get some of that money back, which makes it more cost effective to buy from us,” Lunsford said.
She believes the Kentucky Proud program has a simple, yet powerful, message for consumers.
“It lets people know this product was created by Kentucky’s farm families, and that is a trusted group of people,” she said. “It lets consumers know this trusted product is local and that the money is going to stay in their communities.”
See more: Kentucky’s Top 10 Agricultural Products
Growing the Groundwork
Smith said the Point of Purchase Promotional Grant, which provides up to a 50/50 match on expenses for advertising and marketing, continues to be a cornerstone of the Kentucky Proud program. Eligible marketing initiatives include traditional media ads, branded collateral, packaging, web development, and promotion.
“These funds assist farmers, producers, and small agriculture-related businesses with marketing expenses they may otherwise find difficult to justify and afford,” Smith said.
Janet Dennison could not agree more. She owns Mammoth Cave Transplants, growing and selling vegetable transplants, bedding plants, perennials, annuals, and roses from 13 greenhouses not far from Mammoth Cave National Park. Dennison said Kentucky Proud promotional grants have been invaluable.
“We are out in the country 20 miles from town,” Dennison said. “These promotional grants allowed me to do TV and radio advertising, which helped me get our name out there to broaden our customer base. Those grants helped me get established.”
To learn more about Mammoth Cave Transplants, visit mammothcavetransplants.net, and visit chaneysdairybarn.com for more about Chaney’s Dairy Barn.