Bowling Green marketing executive and radio host Jean-Marie Lawson Spann is traveling the state this week to announce her campain plans for Kentucky commissioner of agriculture.

Spann, a Democrat, made an informal announcement in April at the Young Democratic Banquet in Murray of her intent to run for agriculture commissioner in 2015.

On Monday, Spann, in an email, laid out an extensive list of Kentucky communities that she will visit beginning Wednesday, when she plans to open with an announcement at the Capital Plaza Hotel Ballroom in Frankfort.

Spann will travel to 11 cities this week as part of her announcement tour.

Locally, Spann will appear at 9 a.m. Thursday at the L.D. Brown Ag Expo Center at the Western Kentucky University Farm, at 9 a.m. Friday at the Barren County Democratic Headquarters and at 10 a.m. Saturday at Barren County High School for the Barren County AgFestival.

Spann is vice president of marketing for Lawson Marketing and previously was vice president of marketing at Hartland Equipment in Bowling Green that a few years ago was merged into another business.

For 10 years, Spann has also hosted the Jean-Marie Ag Show, a weekly radio program dedicated to agriculture news as it affects the state.

Spann, who wasn’t available for comment, is the daughter of Sam and Beverly Lawson of Bowling Green and recently married Bobby Spann, vice president of external affairs for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

“She wants to take some modern approaches to things and help grow the economy through agriculture,” Sam Lawson said. “She has a very broad background in marketing and sales and she knows how to get everybody going in the same direction.”

Spann is a Western Kentucky University graduate who has been a two-term state president for the Kentucky Young Democrats and serves on the communication committee for the Kentucky Agriculture Heritage Center.

Current Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who has held the post since 2012, will likely run for governor.

This wouldn’t be the first time that a Bowling Green resident showed interest in becoming state agriculture commissioner. Billy Ray Smith held the post from 1996 to 2003. And while Warren County resident Roger Thomas doesn’t hold an elected statewide agriculture post, he does have one of the more prominent agriculture posts in the state. Thomas is executive director for the Governor’s Office of Agriculture Policy. Spann’s father, Lawson, works closely with Thomas on the state’s Agricultural Development Board.

Agriculture in this regioncontributes hundreds of millions of dollars each year to the state’s economy. Agriculture accounts for almost $6 billion in the state’s economy. Warren County in 2011 (the most recent number available) had $88.9 million in crop and livestock sales for the year, according to the Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service.

— Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter at twitter.com/jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.