“Protecting the right to life for every Kentuckian is one of the biggest reasons I got into politics in the first place,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell, a Republican, said last year after receiving endorsements from anti-abortion groups.
Reproductive rights became a talking point during the campaign and Planned Parenthood, a supporter of abortion access, endorsed Shell’s Democratic opponent, marking the first time the group had weighed in on the agriculture commissioner’s race.
Once in office, some commissioners have continued to embrace partisan issues.
Earlier this year, 12 Republican agriculture commissioners penned a letter criticizing banks for steering investments toward companies with emission reduction goals, an issue that has recently angered many Republican politicians who refer to these as “woke” investments.
“American agriculture is sending a clear signal: we will not bend the knee to the failed, left-wing climate agenda of the United Nations that seeks to cripple one of our country’s most critical industries,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said after signing the letter.
While all 12 elected commissioners signed the letter, none of the appointed commissioners joined.
Lack of diversity among agriculture commissioners
Steve Troxler might be North Carolina’s most successful politician.
Serving as the state’s commissioner of agriculture for nearly 20 years, Troxler was reelected to a fifth term in 2020 with more votes than both the state’s Democratic governor or Donald Trump, the former Republican president who won the state.
With a white bushy mustache and a folksy tone to his voice, Troxler, a Republican who calls himself a “tractor guy,” has the image one might expect from an agriculture leader.
But Sarah Taber sees that as a problem.
“(Voters) have just deferred to what they perceive as an expert in agriculture,” said Taber, the Democratic candidate challenging Troxler in the November election.
Taber might accuse Troxler of being a stereotype of what voters think when picturing a farmer. But Troxler’s demographics are also largely in line with those of many of his cohorts across the country.
While women make up 32% of all statewide officials, including governors, lieutenant governors, and attorneys general, they only make up 24% of state agriculture commissioners, according to Investigate Midwest’s analysis of multiple lawmaker demographic profiles.
All but one agriculture commissioner — Hawaii — identifies as white, compared to 78% of all other statewide officials.
Ninety-five percent of the more than 3.3 million farmers and ranchers are white but the agriculture sector as a whole is more diverse. Nearly 80% of the nation’s 2.9 million agriculture workers identify as Hispanic, according to the National Center for Farmerwork Health. Nearly 65% of meatpacking workers are nonwhite.
Taber believes many voters defer to a stereotypical candidate because they don’t believe they can offer an opinion on agriculture-related issues.
“A lot of the time when I talk to folks here in North Carolina who aren’t farmers, which is the vast majority of North Carolinians, they’ll say things like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I just don’t understand that much about agriculture,’ or, ‘I don’t feel like I’m qualified to make a decision about this position,’ ” Taber recalled. “That’s wild because nobody would ever say I don’t know if I can vote for an attorney general because I’m not a lawyer.”
Many but not all commissioners were farmers
Anson Tebbetts was a television reporter when Vermont’s governor tapped him to become the state’s agriculture commissioner. Colorado’s commissioner, Kate Greenburg, worked for a national nonprofit advocating for young farmers. Karen Ross, California’s secretary of agriculture, was formerly the head of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.
America’s 50 state agriculture leaders come from various backgrounds, although there are common themes.
At least 28 commissioners appear to actively work in farming, or at least were doing so when they were elected or appointed. Many others describe growing up on a family farm in public bios that Investigate Midwest reviewed.
Nineteen commissioners had worked in a lower level position at the state agriculture agency they now lead, or worked for the USDA.
Ten were former elected officials, most often in the state legislature.
At least 12 had some leadership position with the American Farm Bureau or a state chapter.
The background of an appointed commissioner allows a governor to set the tone and agenda for state agriculture policy. In Colorado, when Democratic Gov. Jared Polis appointed Greenberg, he highlighted the need to focus on conservation and new ways of farming.
Water scarcity and environmental stewardship have been important themes during her tenure.
“Climate change is a big — one of the biggest — challenges we face in agriculture, and farmers and ranchers should be at the forefront of dealing with that,” Greenberg said in 2019.
Appointed commissioners also work to present a governor’s policies to the agriculture community, or respond to criticism.
In 2019, Polis said he wanted the state to invest more in the plant-based meat industry, which angered many cattle farmers.
Speaking at a state fair, Greenberg tried to reassure ranchers that the state was committed to its $5 billion cattle industry.
“Impossible Foods is interested in replacing meat; the governor is not,” Greenberg told farmers in 2019, referring to a company that specializes in plant-based meat products.
Agriculture commissioners expand power and focus
Over the last several years, state agriculture agencies have appeared to gain more power over wildlife management, investigating foreign-owned land and enforcement of federal environmental regulations.
Arkansas lawmakers recently tasked its state Department of Agriculture with investigating foreign-controlled companies to determine if any are violating the state’s ban on foreign companies owning land.
In December, Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward said he believed a machine parts manufacturer and crypto-mining company “has significant ties to China.” He asked the state’s attorney general to investigate the company further.
Agriculture commissioners can also play a role in what crops a state focuses on. Taber, the Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s agriculture commissioner, said she wants to push her state away from tobacco production, which has “long been king in North Carolina.”
While corn and soybeans can earn around $400 to $800 an acre, tobacco can earn as much as $4,000 an acre, Taber said.
“But tomatoes and strawberries will make you $40,000 an acre,” Taber said. “We have a state where tobacco doesn’t make money anymore and no one’s thought of anything else because that’s been the focus of our leadership.”
Troxler’s office did not respond to a request for comment but he’s been a vocal supporter of the state’s tobacco industry.
For some agriculture commissioners, forestry services have become an increasing concern.
At least 18 agriculture agencies also oversee the state’s forestry services, and many have had to increase time and money on battling wildfires.
This year, Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain lobbied for a threefold increase in the state’s wildfire fighting budget.
“There’s no other option,” Strain said. “We have to fight fires, and to do that we have to spend the money.”
While many western states with substantial forests have standalone forestry agencies, many midwestern and southern states combine those offices with agriculture departments. Wildfires have significantly increased in the West in recent years. But central states have also experienced an uptick.
Karney, the senior director of public policy for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, said wildfire management and response is becoming a growing concern for state agriculture commissioners.
“When a disaster strikes, they work closely with the animal plant health inspection service at USDA to make sure animals are protected during wildfires, or to make sure crops are protected,” Karney said. “This is something that state (agriculture agencies) are heavily involved in.”
Reporters Jennifer Bamberg, Mónica Cordero, Sky Chadde and John McCracken contributed research.
Citations & References:
Interviews and statements
RJ Karney, July 9, 2024
Jonathan Shell, March 2, 2023
Tyler Harper, Jan. 31, 2024
Sarah Taber, July 3, 2024
Kate Greenberg, Feb. 12, 2019
Wes Ward, Dec. 11, 2023
Reports and documents
Commissioners directory, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
Agriculture agency resources by state, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
Gubernatorial elections in 2024, Ballotpedia
Planned Parenthood Kentucky endorsement
Ag commissioner letter on net-zero banking
Arkansas Senate Bill 383, foreign-owned land
Data
Producer characteristics, USDA ag census, 2022
Meatpacking worker demographics, BLS
Farmworker demographics, National Center for Farmworker Health
Agriculture commissioners elected vs appointed
Ag commissioner demographics
State legislator demographics
Type of work:
Explainer A data-driven story that provides background, definition and detail on a specific topic.
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