UK Research and Education Center, Community Continue Impactful Relationship

By Bailey Vandiver

Through a century of serving Kentuckians, the University of Kentucky Research and Extension Center at Princeton (UKREC) has built a vital relationship with the community that is beneficial and meaningful for all involved.  

“We can’t serve Kentucky without hearing from our agriculture agents and our farmers,” said UKREC director Carrie Knott. “That special relationship that Princeton faculty have always had with farmers and with ag agents has made this a very special place.”  

Colette Laurent, extension associate for grain crops, said the farmers and UK Cooperative Extension Service agents “invest in us as much as we invest in them.”  

The culture of UKREC allows anyone to drop by, find the specialists they need and work toward solutions together. One of the biggest benefits, Knott said, is that 10 units are housed at the center, from beef cattle to tobacco. 

“We’re able to walk down the hall and build a multidisciplinary team to look at a problem,” Knott said. “I think that’s what makes us so special and so effective in the state.”  

“Become like family” 

Many of the farmers who work closely with UKREC become close friends with the personnel there; some, Knott said, even “become like family.”