Community members gathered on the Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm on July 17 for the Third Thursday Thing program, a monthly sustainable agriculture workshop. 

This month’s workshop topics focused on cattle and poultry presented by Dr. Abbigail Hines, Mike Wilson, and Dr. Frederick Bebe.

Participants from throughout the Commonwealth attend the workshops, with some attendees regularly coming nearly every month to expand their knowledge and skillset.

David Miller is one such individual who has been coming to Third Thursday programs since 2008.

“I take the information, I use it on the farm, I analyze it, and I see what I can do different or what I can do better… I feel like every time I come, there’s something that I could learn…,” said Miller.

David Neville, a Kentucky State University alumnus and owner of Capstone Farms, is another regular attendee of the program who appreciates the opportunity to not only learn new information, but also to connect with others and share ideas.

“I have varied interest and so I attend, not every one, but several of Third Thursday programs. It gives me a chance to do a couple of things: really learn stuff, which is the main focus of this, but also to network and see some people that I don’t get to see but once every six months, so it’s a relationship building thing for me,” said Neville. “This is a good way to get out of your head and talk to other folks in terms of how they’re using [information] or how we can put it into practice on our own farms.”

Third Thursday Thing started as a training program for extension agents in 1997 and has since expanded to include members of the community. Today, Third Thursday Thing covers a wide variety of topics throughout the year with the goal to improve the sustainability of agriculture for Kentucky’s small, beginner, and limited-resource farmers. Workshops are held on the third Thursday of each month except December. 

For more information about Third Thursday Thing, contact Edwin Chavous at edwin.chavous@kysu.edu.