Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles speaks Wednesday to the Bowling Green Rotary Club.

This week’s announcement that Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has submitted an emergency disaster designation request to help the commonwealth’s farmers is the latest evidence that those who raise crops and livestock for a living are living on the edge.

Kentucky farmers – already buffeted by fickle commodity markets, international trade wars and changing consumer demand – took a hit from Mother Nature that led to the governor’s request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If approved, the disaster designation will allow for the availability of low-interest loans to farmers in all counties affected by the disaster.

“There are some challenges for Kentucky farmers,” Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles said Wednesday. “We were having a phenomenal growing season until about a month ago, when heavy rain destroyed a lot of crops.”

Speaking at a meeting of the Bowling Green Rotary Club at Bowling Green Country Club, Quarles called agriculture “one of the few industries where you can do everything right and still lose money.”

He cited depressed soybean prices as a result of the tariff war with China, sinking milk prices resulting from lowered consumption and the aging of the state’s farmers as challenges.

But Quarles, a 34-year-old Scott County native serving his first term as agriculture commissioner, isn’t giving up on an industry that has historically been a powerful economic engine for the state.

Quite the contrary. Quarles, a Republican and former member of the state legislature who is now the youngest statewide elected official in the country, told the Rotarians on Wednesday that Kentucky agriculture simply needs to reinvent itself.

“We have the potential to be more than plows, cows and sows,” Quarles quipped as he made his case for a new approach to Kentucky agriculture.

Part of that approach involves branding and promoting the state’s agricultural products through the “Kentucky Proud” label that identifies foods that are grown or processed in Kentucky.

But Quarles’ vision for Kentucky agriculture goes beyond labels and marketing. A big part of his focus is on opening up international markets to the state’s farmers. He touted a trade accord that lifted a ban on U.S. equine exports to China as an example of an emerging market with growth potential.

Quarles also emphasized exploring alternative crops such as industrial hemp and hops.

Industrial hemp has grown since the 2014 federal Farm Bill authorized growing the plant and Kentucky’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program was started the same year. But that growth has been hampered because the crop remains on the federal controlled substances list.

“This has been a breakout year for hemp, with 7,000 acres grown in the state,” Quarles said. “Industrial hemp is no longer a novelty. It’s an emerging crop that gives our farmers an opportunity for another cash crop.”

Quarles pointed out that Kentucky was the largest hemp-producing state in the country at one time.

“My great-grandfather grew industrial hemp,” he said.

With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushing for a new federal Farm Bill that would legalize industrial hemp, Quarles is optimistic about the crop’s future.

“My vision is that in the future we’ll look at industrial hemp no differently than we look at corn and soybeans today,” Quarles said. “It’s time to unleash the opportunity of industrial hemp.”

The commissioner would also like to see the state’s bourbon producers use more Kentucky-grown corn and make more inroads into international markets for Kentucky’s signature beverage.

Mostly, he would like to see the state’s agriculture industry attract a younger generation of farmers.

“The average age of farmers in Kentucky is 60,” Quarles said. “We need to do a better job of inspiring young people to go into agriculture.”