Robert H. Conway of Georgetown, Midway churchgoer, 1 of 2 Democrats seeking ag-commissioner nomination

UPDATE: Conway won the Democratic nomination, getting 60 percent of the vote.

By Collin Kruse and Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

One candidate in Tuesday’s statewide primary elections has a strong Midway connection.

Conway (left) and Trigg (Photos by Glasgow Daily Times)

Robert Haley Conway of Georgetown, who attends Midway Presbyterian Church, is one of two Democratic candidates for commissioner of agriculture.

The other Democratic candidate is Joe Trigg of Glasgow.

The job is held by Ryan Quarles of Georgetown, who is opposed by Bill Polyniak of Lexington in the Republican primary.

Conway said in an interview last month that he has been traveling throughout Kentucky, fighting for farms and their businesses.

“We’ve lost over 11,000 farms since the beginning of the decade, and bankruptcies on farms are at an all-time high,” Conway said.  “I feel like there are some problems that need to be addressed.”

Conway says he is looking to break a trend in Kentucky politics by spreading awareness of the financial troubles that state farms are experiencing. “The Republican Party, for the last 16 years, has used the office of commissioner of agriculture as a platform for their young talent to get into the state government. Farmers deserve better.”

Quarles was preceded by James Comer, who ran for governor in 2015 and is U.S. First District representative. Comer followed Richie Farmer, a former basketball star who served two four-year terms, ran for lieutenant governor in 2011 and went to prison for misusing his office.

Conway says he is an eighth-generation farmer, part of a family that has been farming in Kentucky since 1780, before it was a state. He was an executive at the General Electric plant in Louisville, but says he grew up on his family’s farm, where his grandfather stressed the importance of lending a helping hand. “It’s how we were raised as a family, and looking back on it I was very lucky to have that upbringing,” he said.

Conway, who raises cattle with his son, compares his campaign to the story of David and Goliath. “I’m not delusional,” he said. “I know I’m not going to have the type of money to win this election, but I have the message.” That message is to give Kentucky farmers the opportunities to become financially stable, and in some cases, to save their farmland.

One of the first solutions on Conway’s agenda is medicinal marijuana. “It finally got out of committee in Frankfort, but once it got out neither the House or the Senate would vote on it, and I thought that was horrible,” he said.

Conway also says legalizing recreational marijuana would give farmers another value-added crop, and ease jail overcrowding. He said he would use taxes on the crop to strengthen school and community programs.

“My concern right now is that small farmers are going to have to have somebody be a watchdog,” Conway said. “Since the first of January this year, Big Tobacco has bought into the hemp industry, setting themselves up for the near future. If that happens, it will not go well for your small farms.”

Conway said that his campaign experience has been humbling, and that there’s still a lot more work to be done. “I’m looking forward to the day when politics will be about doing what’s right, rather than choosing a side.”

Trigg said at the Fayette County Democratic dinner last month that he is for medicinal marijuana and hemp, but would limit production under a quota system like the one that was used for tobacco from 1940 to 2004, to help small and medium-sized farms.

Trigg, 60, is a member of the Glasgow City Council and an African American. He said he is a first-generation farmer with 50 beef cows, two greenhouses and the beginnings of a hemp crop. He said he retired from the Air Force after 30 years, which included 15 deployments to 10 combat zones.

For a KET story and video about the Republican and Democratic primaries for agriculture commissioner, click here. For a story from the Lexington Herald-Leader, click here. For a story about the Democratic race, from the Glasgow Daily Times, click here.