 As part of the new and beginning farmer initiative, the United States Department of Agriculture met with local leaders in Pikeville Wednesday to discuss agriculture in eastern Kentucky. We have 73 counties in Kentucky that are part of the strike force region and those are counties that have been hit harder economically with unemployment and poverty. So we want to increase and improve our efforts especially in this region. They're looking to adjust their programs to meet the demands of Appalachia for the small-scale growers and for people that are new beginning farmers. But what they're doing is they're trying to look at agriculture in a new way. Officials with the Pikeville farmers market say meetings like the one held Wednesday are beneficial to the area. Agriculture can be part of our future. It's not going to create 100,000 jobs but maybe it can create a thousand and that's a start and that's what we've got to do. We've got to start somewhere. The USDA feels this initiative will not only expand farmers markets but also help area schools. We'll get more local fruits and vegetables locally grown into our farmers markets as well with hopes of being able to cut through some of the red tape to help our smaller producers to be able to get local products into our school systems. For those interested in becoming farmers, contact the Pike County Cooperative Extension Office at the number listed on your screen. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Shelby Steele.