Agriculture

The USDA’s first meeting to help women and Hispanic farmers file a claim of alleged discrimination on loans was Monday in Simpsonville.

The lightly attended session was the first of two in the state, with the second on Tuesday at the Graves County Library in Mayfield.

The USDA is offering the more streamlined claims process for helping women and Hispanic farmers who believe they were discriminated against while applying for a USDA loan between 1981 and 2000. The claims process opened on Sept. 24 and will continue through March 25, 2013.

Shelby County’s return to its wine-making roots was in full vintage on Saturday, when Vegh-Davis Vineyard called in a few friends to help gather about 4.5 acres of traminette grapes at a converted farm on Hempridge Road.

A familiar name and face has a new role in the Shelby County agricultural scene.

Walt Reichert, former editor of The Sentinel-Newsand faculty member of Jefferson Community & Technical College’s Shelby County campus, is the new horticulture technician at the University of Kentucky’s Shelby County Extension Office. He replaces Corinne Kephart, who recently moved from that job to be the agriculture agent.

Corinne Kephart may be new to the field of county agriculture agent, but she is hardly new in the field.

You could say, in fact, that Kephart, who was named in April to replace Brett Reese as the oracle for farming in Shelby County, has been out thereall her life, having most recently served as the horticulture agent at the Shelby County Extension office and before that as 4-H agent.