Kentucky Farm Business Management Agents Kayla Brashears and Michael Forsythe shared how the program supports agriculture operations in the region and highlighted current farm trends at Tuesday’s Hopkinsville Rotary Club meeting.
The pair are agents for the program’s Pennyroyal Association, which covers 16 counties, including Christian, Todd and Trigg counties, and the program is run through the University of Kentucky’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Forsythe and Brashears shared that they provide financial statements, trend analyses, information to help farmers with decision-making and much more.
Program agents also record agricultural data. Brashears says in 2024, the average net income for farms across the state dropped to negative $20,522. In the Pennyroyal region, farmers lost $20,202 on average in 2024.
Brashears says the United States Department of Agriculture predicts that farm incomes in 2025 are set to be higher due to government support. However, she anticipates the losses to continue and to possibly get worse.
Brashears also expects interest rates to remain high, which could lead to farmers reconsidering long-term purchases. Due to increasing costs, she says farmers are trying to optimize or minimize their operations. Labor costs have also increased and farmhands have become harder to find.
However, in positive news, Brashears says more farms are using drones.
More information about the program is available at kfbm.ca.uky.edu.
