Kentucky state Rep. Richard Heath has filed to run for state agriculture commissioner.
Kentucky state Rep. Richard Heath has filed to run for state agriculture commissioner.
GRAVES COUNTY, KY — Kentucky State Rep. Richard Heath has filed to run for Kentucky agriculture commissioner.
Heath — who currently represents state House District 2, which includes Graves County and a portion of McCracken County — filed to run for agriculture commissioner Tuesday in Frankfort.
In a news release announcing the filing, Heath says his agricultural roots and service in state government have prepared him for the role.
Heath says he grew up on a small farm in Clear Springs in Graves County, where he helped raise pigs and corn. After he graduated from high school, Heath says he put himself through college by raising corn, soybeans, wheat and tobacco. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in agriculture at Murray State University. Heath says he continued farming for more than 10 years after that, then went on to manage the Graves County Coop Store from the mid-1980s until 2000, when he bought his brother’s barn building business. He still operates that barn building business, Heath Buildings in Mayfield.
In the Kentucky House of Representatives, Heath is currently serving his fourth term as chairman of the agriculture committee.
“I know what farming looks like from the seat of a tractor, the back of a tobacco setter, and the inside of a stall. These life experiences have prepared me to serve the people of Kentucky as Commissioner of Agriculture and I’m ready to get to work for our Commonwealth,” Heath said in a statement included in the news release. “I want to be Commissioner of Agriculture to be the Commissioner of Agriculture. I will be fully committed to serving in this office. I’m not using it as a stepping stone.”
Currently in Paducah
