GLICKMAN APPOINTS DIRECTORS TO SHEEP INDUSTRY CENTER

                                            Release No. 0011.97                                            
                                                               
                                      Dan Campbell (202) 720-6483

GLICKMAN APPOINTS DIRECTORS TO SHEEP INDUSTRY CENTER
     
     WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
announced the appointment of a nine-member board of directors for the new
National Sheep Industry Improvement Center.   The center will operate a
revolving fund which will finance projects -- such as new product
development and processing facilities -- that will help pump life into the
nation's struggling sheep and goat industry.  The new board and National
Sheep Industry Improvement Center are required by statute.

     The United States' sheep and lamb population peaked at 56.2 million
head in 1942, but now fluctuates between 10 to 13 million head, with the
trend downward. One-third of the nation's major lamb packing plants have
closed since 1993.   

     The sheep center's board of directors includes seven voting members
who will serve 1, 2 or 3-year terms. They were selected from among 37
nominations submitted by five eligible national organizations of sheep or
goat producers. The board will also include two non-voting members, Jill
Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development, and Catherine
Woteki, USDA acting under secretary for research, education and economics.

     Appointed to represent active producers are: Lawrence L. Becker,
Montello, Wis.; Julie A. Hansmire, Mack, Colo.; John L. Faulkner, Gooding,
Idaho; and John Mark McLaughlin, San Angelo, Tex.  Appointed as members with
finance and management expertise are: William Hansen Bonde, Sacramento,
Calif., and E. Pierce Miller, San Angelo, Tex.  Appointed as the member with
expertise in lamb, wool, goat or goat product marketing is Larry Spencer
Rule, Brighton, Colo.

     The Center will operate a revolving fund that will be initially funded
with $20 million.  An additional $30 million in federal funds may be
appropriated over the next 10-years, beyond which the Center will have to
become entirely supported by the sheep and goat industry. The 1996 Farm Bill
directed USDA to establish the center. Its board, not USDA, will operate the
center.
     
     The center's activities are to: (1) promote strategic development
activities and collaborative efforts by private and State entities to
maximize the impact of federal assistance to strengthen and enhance the
production and marketing of lamb, wool and goat products in the United
States; (2) optimize the use of available human capital and resources within
the lamb and goat industry; (3) provide assistance to meet the needs of the
sheep or goat industry for infrastructure development, business development,
resource development and market and environmental research; (4) build the
capacity of the U.S. sheep and goat industries to design responses to the
special needs of the lamb, wool and goat  industries on both a regional and
national basis; and (5) adopt flexible and innovative approaches to solving
the long-term needs of the U.S. sheep and goat industries.  
                                 
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