County Agricultural Cost-Share Program to Begin Sign-ups in December

Weekly Newspaper Article for The News-Democrat, Carrollton, KY

Applications will be available on Thursday, December 6 for the 2012 Carroll County Agricultural Investment Program (CAIP) at the Carroll County Extension Office, 500 Floyd Drive, Carrollton.

Applications must be returned to the Carroll County Extension Office between December 6 and December 20--we cannot accept applications before or after these dates.

A Farm Serial Number is required information for the application, and it is strongly recommended you contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) at (502) 732-6931 to receive or confirm that number.  Only the FSA can provide your Farm Serial Number.

The CAIP is a cost-share program that originates from the 1998 Master Tobacco Settlement and provides funding for the following agricultural categories:



Agricultural Diversification

• Includes, but is not limited to, commercial horticulture production, honeybees, rabbit, aquaculture, equine, agritourism development, commercial kitchen construction, sod production, timber, and marketing.

Cattle Genetics Improvement

• Includes bull purchase/lease, semen purchase, artificial insemination, and heifer purchase for both beef and dairy.

Cattle Handling

• Includes the building materials for beef/dairy cattle handling facilities, beef bulls, weaning calves, and on-farm composting.

Commercial Poultry, Dairy & Swine

• Includes cost-share items specific for poultry, dairy, and swine diversification.

Farm Fencing Improvement

• Includes items for perimeter and interior fencing.

Farm Structure & Commodity Handling

• Includes hay/straw storage, forage equipment, and commodity storage.

Farmland Improvement & Utilization

• Includes seed, lime, filter fabric pads for heavy use areas, and field drainage.  Fertilizer is NOT an eligible item.

Goat & Sheep Diversification

• Includes handling facilities, buck/ram purchase, semen purchase, and breeding female purchase.

On-Farm Energy Efficiency & Production

• Includes a range of energy efficient equipment, upgrades, and projects.

On-Farm Water Enhancement

• Includes farm pond establishment/repair, automatic waterers, etc.

Technology & Leadership Development

• Includes equipment related to Precision Agriculture (GPS items), Animal Data Management, Record Management Software, Internet Service, and Leadership Development.

The program will reimburse the producer 75% of his/her eligible cost-share expenditures and the producer will be responsible for 25% of his/her eligible cost-share expenditures.

The maximum producer limit is $2000.

After the December 20 deadline to turn in applications, applications will be scored.  Following scoring, those producers who are approved to receive funding will be notified of their approval through a letter sent out by the Program Adminstrator.

For those producers approved, the deadline to turn in receipts is October 1, 2013.  However, receipts can be back-dated to May 7, 2012, meaning that producers can turn in eligible cost-share items for reimbursement that date back to May 7, 2012.

For more information about CAIP, contact me at the Carroll County Extension Office at (502) 732-7030.