Ruby Branch Farms hosts Simpson County Ag Extravaganza

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Farmers and ag related businesses alike from around the region made their way to Ruby Branch Farms in Franklin for the Simpson County Ag Extravaganza, which stemmed from an idea owner Laney Snider had to make more people aware about agriculture.

“This is our first annual Simpson County Ag Extravaganza. The premise of this event was to invite other local farms that are doing unique farming practices in our region, just to kind of showcase them and just show what all types of farming is happening in our area… A big part of Ruby Branch’s mission is to just share the story of agriculture with people that aren’t connected to a farm anymore. So this was a great opportunity to bring these other farms in, just to show people what’s being grown in our area that isn’t corn, wheat and soybeans,” Snider says.

For some, it’s about sharing the knowledge they’re learning in school with others.

“It just gives us an idea of what people think about ag and just what their knowledge is about it,” Franklin-Simpson High School junior Shelby Ford says.

“Yeah, and it was pretty good to give people new knowledge that they don’t know before about ag, animals and what we do in FFA,” FSHS sophomore Cecilia Huggins says.

Some take it as an opportunity to offer an inside look at something cool people might not know about.

“It’s always fun coming out here and meeting different people and connecting with the public and visiting a place we haven’t been before. I enjoy any opportunity to go out and educate people… so it means a lot that they have us out here today,” Israel Mullins, a mobile dairy instructor with Southland Dairy Farmers, who taught how a cow is milked, says.

Others use it to simply get their name out there.

“We are kind of far away, in that we’re in the northern part of Warren {County}, and so we appreciate Ruby Branch being able to give us the opportunity to get out here in front of a different community,” Whitley Stone of A&W Apiaries, a honey business, says.

In the end, it’s all about sharing the love they have for agriculture with others.

“We just love it so much. We feel so fortunate to be a part of agriculture, and we just want to share as much of that with everyone else that we can… and we love the family that agriculture and farmers are, so any time we can bring everybody together, it’s just a really fun time,” Snider says.