One of Clinton County’s newest business ventures received another financial boost least week in the form of state agricultural funding that was announced by Gov. Steve Beshear’s office.

Blue Grass Stockyards LLC, which announced this past summer it will be constructing a stockyards facility in Albany, was awarded a total of $35,000–$30,000 for Clinton County funds and $5,000 for neighboring Wayne County funds from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB).

According to a press release, the funding to Blue Grass will go toward construction of the facility to “provide a competitive, modern livestock auction market for farmers in south central Kentucky.”

The KADB, meeting for its regular session last Friday, December 16, awarded a total of $1,199,676 in all, covering 10 agricultural diversification projects across the Commonwealth.

Blue Grass Stockyards Marketing Group, based in Lexington, made the official announcement of its locating a stockyards here in August. At that time, the company had already acquired land along Kentucky 90 and U.S. 127 near Keystone, LLC (Equity Group of Kentucky) that will operate as Blue Grass Stockyards of Albany.

According to Jim Akers, COO of Blue Grass LLC, “with the loss of the market in Wayne County to an unfortunate fire earlier this year, Albany becomes a logical location for a new market to serve the customer base of several counties in Kentucky and Tennessee.”

The facility will be constructed at the corner of KY 90 and Hwy. 639, near both the SCC-Clinton Center and poultry processing plant in the Snow Community.

“This is an ideal location with great accessibility, ample room for parking and expansion and is located in a sparsely populated, agricultural area,” said Akers.

The project will include a 50,000 sq. ft. cattle barn with an additional 5,000 sq. ft. of arena and office space which will accommodate seating of more than 150 people.

Bill Arnett, Manager of Blue Grass of Albany, said they wanted to have a market in place for the spring run, and “one that everybody in the community can be proud of.”

The Blue Grass group, one of the largest livestock markets east of the Mississippi, also operates six other stockyards in Kentucky as well as internet marketing.

The venture has been supported by the community at-large, as well as several organizations and governments including the local city and county governments, the local Agriculture Policy Council, who recommends projects for funding to the state’s Agricultural Development Board, and support from the local Industrial Development Authority.

The funding announced last week will help in construction cost for the facility.

Also during the KADB meeting last week, the board approved additional policies and program changes that will take effect January 1, 2012. The complete listing of those policy and program changes can be accessed at agpolicy.ky.gov.

Additionally, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved $2 million in state funds to implement an on-farm energy incentive program. Details and availability will be announced early next year.