On May 2 at the Derby Trainers’ Dinner, Tracy Farmer received the third annual William T. Young Humanitarian Award from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. The award was established in 2003 to recognize a person in the Thoroughbred industry “who recognizes and promotes the human endeavor.”

Farmer was recognized primarily for his involvement in environmental issues, including leadership in the founding of a multimillion dollar center at the University of Kentucky (UK) for environmental research, education, and consensus building. The center, one of six in the country when it was established, has been named the Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment (TFCE).

When the undertaking was announced in August of 2000, Farmer said, “The goal of the center is to cultivate ideas and technology to address the many environmental challenges of the region…we want to explore ways that economic development and environmental concerns can co-exist.”

Since then, the center has become a catalyst for at least five different educational programs and curricula for students of all ages that have involved 23 educational partners and 29 funding sources.  “Our goal is collaboration so that the environment can benefit from synergy of effort, instead of suffering the wastefulness of duplication,” says Farmer