Home » Kentucky farmers to be honored as Local Food Heroes

Kentucky farmers to be honored as Local Food Heroes

Ceremony is Aug. 18 in Louisville

FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 21, 2014) — Three Kentucky farmers voted as the commonwealth’s Local Food Heroes for 2013 will be honored at a dinner next month.

The inaugural Local Food Heroes Farm to Table Dinner is scheduled for Aug. 18 at Ramsi’s Café on the World in Louisville to honor Ramsi Kamar of Louisville, Michael Lewis of Berea, and Clay Turner of Russellville.

farmer2“The voters told us that these three gentlemen are their favorite ambassadors for the local food movement in Kentucky,” Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said. “They each bring something ‘to the table,’ so to speak, as we work to build a dynamic local food economy. I am grateful to them for everything they do.”

The Local Food Heroes Initiative was created from a partnership between the Kentucky Department of Agriculture; Louisville Farm to Table, an effort to increase the capacity of the local food system; and Seed Capital Kentucky, a nonprofit organization in Louisville dedicated to catalyzing the success and resilience of regional agriculture and the regional food economy.

“Louisville and Kentucky citizens consume food produced from thousands of small farmers in Kentucky on a daily basis,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said. “The Local Heroes contest has helped to raise awareness across the entire state not only about how important eating locally-grown food is, but just as much about the impact to the farmers who rely on people to buy and eat it.”

Net proceeds from the dinner will benefit The Lincoln Foundation, a nonprofit that provides educational enrichment programs for disadvantaged students in the region. The Louisville-based organization plans to use the proceeds to implement a new agriculture and culinary education component to its curriculum.

The reception will begin at 5:45 p.m., with dinner to follow.

Only 50 tickets are available. Tickets went are $100 each. For ticket information, call Ramsi’s Café on the World at (502) 451-0700.

Voting for the 2014 Local Food Heroes is underway through July 31. To vote for your favorite local food producer, go to www.seedcapitalky.org. Winners will be announced at the Kentucky State Fair on opening day Aug. 14.