In 2022, KY Place received a $1,000 grant from the Kentucky Historical Society to embark on a statewide oral history project. Our goal was simple but urgent: to gather and preserve the voices of Kentucky’s farmers—those who have shaped the land, and those who are being shaped by it.

After receiving our grant, we traveled across Kentucky, from the family-owned farms of Western Kentucky to Black-owned farms in the hills of the East. We’ve spoken with former tobacco growers who have witnessed the full arc of the state’s agricultural history, and with Pan-African Studies professors who bring an academic and cultural lens to the conversation around land and food systems.

This project captures a wide array of perspectives—stories of climate change, land stewardship, generational knowledge, economic hardship, and the rising cost of living in rural communities. Each interview offers a unique window into the personal and political dimensions of farming life in modern-day Kentucky.

Throughout 2025, we’ll be sharing these interviews in a series of monthly blog posts. Each one centers a different voice, community, and region. Together, they form a chorus that speaks to the complexity and resilience of rural Kentucky.