State Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville) is meeting in Louisville, Ky. this week with officials from Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana to pursue opportunities for rural economic development in West Tennessee.
Norris represents Dyer County and serves on the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee. He is sponsoring legislation to boost value added agricultural development in northwest Tennessee. Norris hopes to pass his "New Age Farmers' Co-op Act" in 2004. He filed the legislation for the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
"It is important to modernize our laws to attract the type of investment and new development we need to create jobs. The production of agricultural fuels is a good example," said Norris who has supported recent feasibility studies for such facilities in northwest Tennessee. The Senator hopes to network with officials across state lines to establish West Tennessee as the location of choice for jobs and economic opportunity.
Norris will address "The Future of Rural" summit with USDA Under Secretary William Hawks of Mississippi who oversees federal marketing and regulatory programs in this area.
"The prospect of the new port facility in Lake County and the I-69 corridor from Indiana through Kentucky into Tennessee, makes it essential that we quickly explore regional opportunities for developing infrastructure and attracting investment in this area. This summit is designed to facilitate mutually profitable programs," said Senator Norris who will be accompanied by former state agriculture commissioner Dan Wheeler, who now serves on the board of the Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture and representatives from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
