After more than a decade in elected office, Quarles looks to future in higher ed

At age 40, Ryan Quarles has spent nearly a third of his life in elected office.

First elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2010, he served as a legislator until being sworn in as commissioner of agriculture in 2016, a role he leaves in a few days’ time after serving two full terms.

The Republican sought higher office in 2023, vying to become the commonwealth’s next governor. He ultimately came in second in a 12-way GOP primary, losing out to Donald Trump-endorsed outgoing Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

But when commissioner-elect Jonathan Shell is sworn in Jan. 1, it won’t mark the end of Quarles’ public service, as he’ll begin a new role as the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which saw more than 100,000 students enrolled in the previous school year.

In September, the KCTCS Board of Regents announced Quarles, himself a former community college student, would lead the 16-campus system beginning in 2024.

“I believe that KCTCS is the most impactful higher education entity in Kentucky,” Quarles said. “We play a special role, and we have to be the biggest tool in the toolkit to address our workforce crisis in Kentucky.

“I’m going to bring my background of growing up on a farm, my background of being a legislator and my background of being Ag Commissioner to this new position.”

For those unfamiliar with Quarles background, the trajectory of commissioner of agriculture to community college system president may have seemed an odd one.

For Quarles, learning is a “lifelong endeavor” – and he has the degrees to prove it, including undergraduate, graduate and law degrees from the University of Kentucky, a master’s in higher education from Harvard University and doctorate in higher education from Vanderbilt.

“I must credit my mother. Both my parents were first-generation college-goers, and she actually taught for 30 years at Kentucky State University as a nursing instructor, and she got a Ph.D. later in life as an adult learner,” he said.

“I got my doctorate in memory of her when she passed away 10 years ago, and that really set me up on a trajectory to where I’m at today.”

As he prepares transition from one high-profile role to the next, Quarles spoke at length with the Herald-Leader in a recent wide-ranging interview at the Department of Agriculture office in Frankfort.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Herald-Leader: After eight years, how are you feeling about this transition that’s coming up?

Ryan Quarles: When you run for a statewide elected office in Kentucky, you know you either get one or two terms. So, this has been a long time coming, and it’s becoming sentimental because for the past couple months, everything that I’ve done was for the last time as Ag Commissioner. I could not be more thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to represent Kentuckians for 13 years in elected office, first as a legislator, and now as your Commissioner of Agriculture, which has been a lifelong dream of mine.

I come from a big farming family. We’ve been farming in Kentucky before Kentucky was a state, since the 1780s. I’m ninth generation. For someone who grew up on a tobacco farm, working for a dollar an hour as a kid, to become the Commissioner of Agriculture really has been a special position for me, because some of my earlier memories of the State Fair was watching then-Commissioner Billy Ray Smith shake the hands of 4H and (Future Farmers of America) competitors. That’s something I’ve really strived to become, was a commissioner for everybody and anybody in Kentucky, whether you come from a farm family or not.

But if you were to ask me what the No. 1 accomplishment had been, it’s really two things.

No. 1 was representing our family community, from our farmers to our restaurants to our amazing Kentucky Proud program.

But No. 2, was doing something significant to combat hunger in Kentucky with the Kentucky Hunger Initiative, which we started in 2016. Over the past eight years, close to $40 million has been either raised through my office or through my personal efforts or through federal grants to help combat hunger in Kentucky.

I encourage Kentuckians to do one of three things: Donate food. Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up an extra bag for those less fortunate. Can’t donate food? Maybe donate some money to a local food pantry. Or, the third thing is everyone can donate some time and have an extra pair of helping hands at a local food pantry.

But the long-winded answer here, I’m just excited and thrilled to have had the opportunity to serve in this capacity, and as somebody that still helps my Dad out on the farm, it’s been a lot of fun.

HL: The Kentucky Hunger Initiative, where does that $40 million go? Kids? Adults?

RQ: There’s no state law or regulation on the books that requires the Department of Ag to do anything on food insecurity. Since I was a high schooler, wearing an FFA blue corduroy jacket, I decided that addressing hunger in Kentucky was always going to be my charitable aspect of wherever I go in life, and it will be after I leave office as well. I’ve met far too many Kentuckians that are ashamed to ask for help. They’re embarrassed. There’s a stigma attached to hunger in Kentucky. What better place than the Department of Agriculture – which already serves as the hub for overseeing food production in a strong agricultural state like Kentucky – to link up with our anti-hunger community, which is vast and big, but also complex.

The initiative was a simple thought: Be the umbrella group that brings everybody together. That if we’re going to help out a Kentuckian that’s down on their luck and provide food, well, why not make sure that’s Kentucky Proud food? And make sure that the quality is nice, too, that if you’re going to donate or provide food, make sure it’s something that you would want to consume yourself.

We helped bridge the gap between production agriculture and primarily focused on our food banks, which already do a wonderful job. One of the first things we did was do a listening tour, traveled the state. We knew that a one-size-fits-all approach would not work in Kentucky, that downtown Louisville and Lexington have different logistical challenges than rural Kentucky. First off, we found out we have transportation issues. No. 2, we found out there was a deficiency in Kentucky’s food donation law, that there were grocery stores that actually chose to throw food away into Dumpsters because they are fearful of lawsuits rather than donate it to a food pantry. I dusted off my law degree, did some research and we actually passed early in my administration a bill that gives Kentucky the strongest food donation law in the country, it’s a piece of legislation that’s been replicated in other states.

Then we captured national attention when Kentucky hosted the first-ever childhood hunger summit for rural America. It didn’t go to New York, didn’t go to Texas. It came to Kentucky. Then I assumed the presidency of what’s called NASDA, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. I said look, ‘We’ve done some special things in Kentucky. Let’s branch out beyond the commonwealth. We created a food insecurity toolkit for any department of ag to use, and that’s been replicated. I’ve been able to testify before Congress more than once about what’s working and how to strengthen our efforts.

HL: Is that a program where now that it’s established, it has some continuity into the future?

RQ: We hope so. Now, on a personal level, I will be continuing to raise money for these organizations, and in fact, on Jan. 31, we’re going to have a Serving Up Solutions dinner where legislators will be serving food. We’ve done this before. With KCTCS, to my knowledge, there are 14 food pantries on our 16 campuses. We’re going to be raising money for our college students as well so that they can have fresh, nutritious food during times of need.

H-L: Looking ahead to the change in administration, what challenges do you see that will have to be addressed in the next four years?

RQ: We’re leaving Commissioner-elect Shell a well-oiled machine with a full tank of gas. Whenever I borrowed my Dad’s truck when I was growing up, if I didn’t bring it back with a full tank of fuel, there were consequences. We’re making sure that his administration has the ability to inherit a well-oiled machine.

There are persisting challenges. No. 1 is a workforce crisis in agriculture. That’s not unique to our industry, but trying to find Kentuckians to work outside in the elements and work on farms is challenging. That will continue to be an issue that goes beyond the borders of Kentucky.

Another issue would be getting the U.S. 2023 Farm Bill passed, and the fact that it hasn’t passed this year is not uncommon, but we need to get that legislation passed before the presidential campaigns eliminate the opportunity for it to become law. Kentucky agriculture needs this. American agriculture needs this piece of legislation.

The third is strengthening our Office of the State Veterinarian. Within a year and a half, our Office of State Veterinarian had to deal with historic tornadoes where agriculture was the No. 1 industry affected in Western Kentucky, which included a lot of unfortunate poultry losses, cattle losses and deceased livestock that had to be dealt with. Then we have multiple outbreaks of avian influenza, and 2022 was the biggest outbreak of avian influenza in U.S. history, affected the price of eggs. No. 3 is that we had floods. We had to go down to a different part of the state and deal with the animal welfare aspect of it.

And then we have diseases that exist in other countries that, every day, we have to prevent from coming to our state, and then secondly, we have a mitigation plan in place to help deal with it if it were to come here. A lot of our success stories at the Department of Ag were ones that there was never a headline because we prevented something from happening.

And the last one, I think would be appropriate land-use balances between growth and the need to protect some of those fertile soil in the world.

H-L: What do you see as possible areas for growth or innovation in the agricultural realm?

RQ: One of my legacy items we just launched, that I think has tremendous potential, is a first-of-its-kind effort, like the Hunger Initiative, to address ag technology innovation in Kentucky: The Bluegrass AgTech Development Corporation, a collaboration between my office, University of Kentucky, Alltech and Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton’s administration. We’ve got $2 million secured to start what I like to call a “Shark Tank” for agriculture, where anybody who has a good idea that would help innovate ag technology, we want to have a clear and simple message: Come to Kentucky. We’re already the land of horses, bourbon and Kentucky Fried Chicken. There’s no better state that has already focused on agriculture to bring your ideas, and we will provide mentorship, we’ll provide intellectual property legal work, we’ll provide green space and lab space, as well as introductions to our economic incentive programs, including venture capitalists. This is an initiative that other states have kind of dabbled in, but I think ours is unique because we’re gonna provide challenge grants to people with good ideas. Knowing that in the startup culture, it’s high risk, but if we can have the next Thomas Edison of agriculture to come to Kentucky to develop those ideas, our state’s going to benefit and it’s going to add value.

Another bright spot has been the emphasis on Buy Local efforts, which is synonymous with Kentucky Proud. One of my top accomplishments in office was working with Kentucky Farm Bureau, with getting a baseball stadium named after Kentucky Proud. There’s no other state in America that has a baseball stadium named after their agricultural marketing program. That’s pretty cool. Especially during COVID, the Buy Local movement has become stronger, and people are going out of their way to look for that Kentucky Proud icon. I think the future is bright for farmers markets our roadside markets, local sections in grocery stores, but also our school systems because if you introduce a young Kentuckian to a great-tasting, affordable item when they’re young, you just created a consumer.

You can’t talk about Kentucky ag without talking about bourbon. When I took office, we believe that only 40% of the corn used in Kentucky bourbon was coming from Kentucky farmers. And I sat down with the distillers and said, “We need to change this. It says Kentucky on your label. It needs to be Kentucky sourced.” As I leave office, 80% of all corn used in Kentucky bourbon comes from Kentucky farmers, which has been a bright spot for a lot of our producers. And as a bourbon fan myself, we’ll take a drink to success on that one.

H-L: You mentioned the Office of the State Veterinarian. On the topic of veterinarians, it’s been in the news that there’s a shortage in Kentucky, especially as it relates to large animals. There is no veterinary school in Kentucky. Everyone goes to Auburn or Tuskegee. I did see a news release that Murray State wants to explore the feasibility of a program. Is there room for the Ag Commissioner going forward to get involved in that, and does Kentucky need such a program?

RQ: One thing that we’ve concluded, after a year-and-a-half worth of effort from our office, was a very thorough study and set of recommendations addressing the large animal and food animal veterinarian shortage, not just in Kentucky but nationwide. Of those recommendations would be protecting our seats, perhaps expanding our seats. There’s also room for discussion about a vet school in Kentucky as the outgoing Ag Commissioner, I’m leaving these recommendations at the doorsteps of our General Assembly, our Agricultural Development Board and the new commissioner to see what’s best. For me, as the incoming KCTCS president, I’ll be advocating for our community colleges.

But that’s a severe shortage that’s not just affecting our state, but nationwide. I think the most effective way to get large animal veterinarians into practice is to identify Kentuckians at a young age – we’re talking middle school and high school – that have a desire to live in rural parts of Kentucky for their career. Then help give them the mentorship, but also financial incentives, to get through college, be prepared for vet school and then come back and then perhaps buy out an existing practice. We already offer a low-interest loan to those Kentucky veterinarians that are buying out practices in rural areas. Other opportunities here would be student loan forgiveness.

The most effective tool would be identifying those students that maybe grew up on farms, maybe they don’t grow up on farms, that have a genuine desire to service large animals and feed animals in rural Kentucky, and there’s an industry that’s already proven this is successful. The medical colleges already have similar programs that place doctors, years in advance of even graduating, they’ll go ahead and place them in rural areas and there’s a job waiting for them on the other side.

H-L: In talking about workforce development, what role do you see KCTCS playing in addressing that and such things as certifications or technical training?

RQ: KCTCS already plays a big role in workforce development. One of my goals as the incoming president is talking about the positive stories that are already occurring in our community and technical colleges. That we are already the biggest provider of degrees and certificates in Kentucky. We are also the biggest driver of training for companies that either want to recruit or retain employees. Are there areas of improvement? Absolutely. And so hopefully one of my first initiatives once taking office is to announce a workforce development initiative that helps reassure the business community that our community and technical colleges are the place to go. And in many cases they already are, but we want to make sure that they’re being as utilized as best possible.

H-L: Enrollment at colleges and universities over the past decade has been declining. Are you starting to think about ways to address that?

RQ: Yes. I plan on using my contacts and life experience to aggressively recruit Kentuckians to choose community and technical colleges. Right now, one-third of our enrollees are high school students doing dual-credit programs. But we also want to make sure that we are active with reminding Kentuckians about the financial rewards of getting a two-year associate’s degree or a nursing degree or a welding certificate. For those who choose, you can exit our program debt-free, oftentimes, with our KEES scholarships and other grants providing the majority of the funding of your degree, that in two years time, you can own your own business. I plan on actively recruiting from the base I know very well: Our 4-H and FFA members, our other rural and urban communities, as well.

Also, making sure we are aligning with what the General Assembly, as well as the Cabinet for Economic Development and the Kentucky Chamber, have identified as high-need areas, and what are those? Well, healthcare obviously is No. 1. We pump out more – I believe we pump out more nurses – as a system than the other nursing schools, and that’s a bright spot. We also need to make sure we are aligning our programs with modern industry needs. We’re about to build a lot of batteries in Kentucky. Are our programs aligning with modern workforce needs as well? We’re going to have a period of evaluation at KCTCS to make sure our programs are up-to-date and also are serving the needs of our employers.

H-L: In a recent Council on Postsecondary Education study, it talked about Kentucky’s community college funding being the sixth-worst in the nation, and tuition for in-state students being higher than the national average.

RQ: As the incoming president, we will be making an ask to the General Assembly that is significant, that directly ties into helping solve our workforce development crisis in Kentucky. I know that there are things that need to be improved and fixed at KCTCS. But at the same time, if we want to get serious about filling all these job openings as well as improving the quality of life of Kentuckians, we will have a legislative ask that directly relates to the workforce. I also think the Council on Post-secondary Education study highlighted some positive things about the system, but also opened the door for possible funding opportunities that are unique to community and technical colleges.

H-L: In the last year, we’ve seen some state legislatures take aim at DEI issues. KCTCS schools serve a really diverse array of students. If that were the case in Kentucky, how would you work with legislators to make sure these schools continue to be a welcoming place for students?

RQ: Of course we want to make sure that all of our campuses are a welcoming environment for Kentuckians of all backgrounds. We also need to be mindful that we’re an open admissions system, meaning we’ll take anybody that is willing to improve themselves, and we want to give them the opportunity to earn a better income with a new skill set as well.

H-L: How do you see your role, your relationship with the legislature unfolding in the next session?

RQ: As a former member, and as an eight year executive officer, I’ve built up a positive rapport with both sides of the aisle in Frankfort. I’m gonna bring that same study-handedness and trusted voice as the KCTCS president.

I’ll be the first to admit there are changes that need to be made, and the most recent audit and the Senate Joint Resolution 98 study, have highlighted some weaknesses in the system. And so, when I get started, we’re going to focus on correcting the findings on the audit, but also provide transparency at the General Assembly about our progress, as well as making sure that their concerns are being addressed.