Two of the industries – horses and forests – may be as close as our back door, while many of our family and friends undoubtedly work for manufacturers whose products are exported to countries ranging from China and Canada to Italy and India.

As chair of the Kentucky House of Representatives’ Agriculture and Small Business Committee, I have had the opportunity over the years to learn more about the inner workings of each of these.  The one I am most familiar with, however, is our signature horse industry.

Last year, horse-related sales ranked fourth among agriculture’s commodities, putting them just behind cattle sales and trailing poultry and corn.