Kentucky - Tobacco spending proposal offered
06/26/99
A group of Kentucky agricultural leaders yesterday nailed down a $138 million plan to reshape the state's farm economy with tobacco settlement money.
"That's the ballpark,'' Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, said of the three-year total. Spending in the first year would total about $85 million. According to a draft of the proposal obtained by the Herald-Leader, the first-year development proposals the farm leaders will take to Gov. Paul Patton on July 15 include $15 million for forage and livestock; $5 million for horticulture; $5 million for an Institute for Rural Development and Agricultural Entrepreneurship; $17 million for environmental issues; $12 million for biotechnology recruitment and research; $6 million for marketing; $10 million for research, education and infrastructure; and $15 million for a venture capital fund.