WHAT IS THE IOWA EQUINE TASK FORCE?

The Task Force is an industry group devoted to promoting the collective interests of the State's equine industry.

History

In 2004 Patty Judge, then Secretary of Agriculture for Iowa, formed an Iowa Equine Task Force. The Task Force was assigned the task of completing an Equine Economic Impact study for the State of Iowa.

The study revealed:

1.       The Iowa equine industry annually produces goods & services valued at $862.5 million dollars.

2.       The total value of all equine related assets in Iowa is $8.3 billion.

3.       Iowa equine owners hold over 2.1 million Iowa acres, which equals 5.87% of Iowa land.

4.       Iowa has 200,000 horses ranking Iowa 17th in the nation.

5.       The Iowa Equine Industry directly provides 10,000 jobs.

The Task Force next began work to create a bill to establishing an Equine Industry Promotional Commission to promote and market the Equine Industry in Iowa.  Currently a bill has been drafted to support the creation of the Equine Commission.

Iowa Equine Promotional Commission

Mission
The commission will work to market, promote & unite the collective interests of the equine industry.

How?
By creating a full-time marketing & communications administrative associate located at IDALS

What Will This Employee Do?

Primary Goals

Collect, produce & distribute information relating to the equine industry to better facilitate communication and efforts in conjunction with the Iowa Horse Council, state breed associations, area equine clubs, trail riding interests, agriculture and horse related industries.

Develop a web site with up to date news; listings of equine events such as shows, racing, & trail rides, clinics, breed information; farm information; etc.

Produce mass media & specific target audience reports, bulletins, fact sheets & news releases that will build industry support.

Develop a database to assist the industry statewide including: IDALS, Iowa Veterinary Rapid Response Team, equine tourism, Animal Industry Bureau, publications & others for any equine crisis management issues that may arise

Secondary Goals

Support the well being of all Iowa Equine industries & businesses.
Encourage participation in Equine events in Iowa.
Promote and explain the Social Contribution of Equine Activities.
Encourage natural resource improvements for Equine activitie.s
Promote, Support & increase awareness of all Equine educational programs in Iowa.
Promote and encourage Equine tourism within Iowa.