Organic Association Of Kentucky Inc.

Organic Association of Kentucky Inc., a Kentucky-based nonprofit organization, receives federal grants from the Department of Agriculture to deliver outreach, education, and technical assistance supporting organic farming adoption, climate-smart agriculture practices, and sustainable land management across Kentucky. The organization acts exclusively as a prime grant recipient (100% of recent awards) and does not hold federal contracts or serve as a subcontractor.

OAK's federal grant footprint is concentrated entirely within the Department of Agriculture across four subordinate agencies. The Natural Resources Conservation Service has awarded four cooperative agreements totaling work on NRCS Farm Bill program communications support and agricultural conservation outreach; the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Institute of Food Production and Sustainability) has issued three project grants supporting organic farming conferences and soil health programming; the Agricultural Marketing Service awarded a $619,678 cooperative agreement under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (CFDA 10.175) on March 1, 2026, running through February 28, 2029, focused on expanding climate-smart commodity markets for grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb, and organic grains while supporting implementation and monitoring with small and historically underserved producers; and the Farm Service Agency's Kansas City Commodity Office issued one project grant supporting climate-smart commodity markets and conservation practice incentives through August 31, 2028.

Representative grant work includes the USDA NRCS cooperative agreement (February 1, 2024, through March 31, 2027, $261,296 under CFDA 10.902 — Soil and Water Conservation) to deliver outreach and education increasing participation in NRCS conservation programs in Kentucky; a USDA NRCS-sponsored annual organic farming conference project grant (July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2027) under a longer-term cooperative agreement; a September 2023 project grant from the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability supporting the 2024 "Advancing Organics in Kentucky" three-day conference targeting approximately 450 farmers, researchers, and agricultural professionals; and an NRCS cooperative agreement (September 16, 2025, through September 30, 2030) for communications support assisting NRCS in creating and distributing Farm Bill program information statewide.

OAK's grant activity shows a decline from three awards in 2022 to one each in 2024, 2025, and 2026. Only one award reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, reducing near-term recompete exposure. The organization's core capability portfolio centers on hosting regional organic farming conferences, providing technical assistance for organic certification transitions, operating peer mentoring networks connecting producers, and managing outreach and education campaigns for federal conservation and local-food programs across Kentucky and the broader Southeast region.