K entucky State University's Fruit and Vegetable Mobile Processing Unit (FVMPU) is a fully permitted and certified mobile commercial kitchen that enables farmers to process their fresh fruits and vegetables into value-added products such as jams, jellies, pickles, salsa, and frozen bagged fruits and vegetables to be sold in local grocery stores, gift shops, and farmers markets.
This unit offers processing levels that are higher than that of a home-based processor, including a sorghum evaporator, which provides farmers with a way to process and sell goods at venues larger than the local farmers market.
The FVMPU aims to enhance services to underserved, limited-resource farmers who are often not reached by traditional Cooperative Extension programs, in safe commercial processing of fruits and vegetables in order to significantly increase economic opportunities for these individuals. KSU Extension staff also educate and assist farmers in the value-added process and marketing strategies.
GIS technology helps farmers and communities evaluate patterns and trends
in safe commercial processing of fruits and vegetables in order to significantly increase economic opportunities for these individuals. KSU Extension staff also educate and assist farmers in the value-added process and marketing strategies.
Because the FVMPU contains equipment for the production of FDA-regulated products, all recipes submitted for production must be approved by the Food Systems Innovation Center.
To use the unit, contact its manager, Dakarai Carrington, at (502) 597-6425 or dakarai.carrington@kysu.edu. The FVMPU is available to be leased for up to 48 hours. The Fruit and Vegetable Mobile Processing Unit is funded in part by a grant obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a way of understanding the world around us. GIS is designed to capture, manage, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information. It allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize our world in ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.
Ken Bates, state extension specialist in Geographic Information Systems, works with students and communities to help gather, analyze, and report this data to help answer questions and solve problems by creating maps, which are quickly understood and easily shared. “As with any technology, GIS was formed in the confines of a remote computer room, but has now moved onto our desktops and onto our mobile devices,” Bates says.
confines of a remote computer room, but has now moved onto our desktops and onto our mobile devices," Bates says.
At Kentucky State University, students use GIS technology to address the needs of farmers including land use and livestock practices.
Did you know that of all features on a cell phone, travel directions and maps are always rated as the most used applications?