Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Hank Gilbert

8/9/2019 Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Hank Gilbert

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Hank Gilbert ForAgriculture

Commissioner

REMARKS AS PREPARED FORDELIVERY: TDA REFORM

July 28, 2010

NOTE: Mr. Gilbert frequently deviates from his prepared remarks.

Two years ago, peanuts contaminated with dangerous bacteria left apeanut plant here in West Texas and entered the food chain with terribleconsequences.

In the two years since, as theAustin American-Statesman noted thisweekend, little has changed when it comes to keeping Texas food supply safe.Like children in a schoolyard, we have one agency pointing at the other onesaying, its not our job, while the other agency struggles to keep up.

That has to change. But that is just one symptom of a broken regulatorysystem in Texas that more closely resembles a patchwork quilt than a system putin place to protect Texas consumers and promote agriculture.

Today, Im here in Abilene to release Advancing Markets. ProtectingConsumers: Rebuilding the Texas Department of Agriculture for the 21st

Century,my campaigns proposal for reforming the Texas Department ofAgriculture and streamlining the regulatory patchwork quilt that everyone fromagricultural producers to grocery stores to consumers are forced to deal witheach and every day.

The Texas Department of Agriculture canand shouldbe doing more

for Texans. It has the potential to become the states strongest and bestconsumer protection agency. However, under a succession of commissionerswho have used the office as little more than a stepping stone to higher office,little incentive has existed for reform and there has been little innovation orchange in the way the agency does business.

As I mentioned a moment ago, food safety is one shining example of theneed for reform at TDA. Under current law, food safety is the responsibility ofvarious state and federal agencies depending on the type of commodity you aretalking about or the facility being inspected. This kind of disjointed process putsour food supply in jeopardy. Food is being imported to Texas today that from

other countries that use dangerous pesticides outlawed in this country, and ourfruits and vegetables are treated with those pesticides. Food is coming to marketfrom Texas and south of our border that is harvested under potentially unsafeconditions where workers lack proper sanitation facilities and proper healthinspections.


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Under my plan, food safety inspections for grocery stores, conveniencestores, food wholesalers and warehouses, food processors, food manufacturers,wholesale bakeries, beverage producers, refrigerated warehouses,slaughterhouses, meat and poultry plants, and fish processors, would all becentralized under the Texas Department of Agriculture.

As Commissioner, I will institute the TEXAS Food Safety & SecurityInitiative to insure that Texas food supply is safe from the field to grocery storeshelves. That stands for Tested, EXamined, Approved, & Secure, and it willrequire comprehensive food safety inspections for everything from grocery storesto warehouses, processors, manufacturers, meat and poultry plants, and fishprocessors.

Too, there are other areas presently under TDAs jurisdiction where moremust be done to protect Texas consumers. Every day, Texas consumerspurchase gasoline, fruits, vegetables, and other commodities that are sold by

weight or volume. You can look on the Texas Department of Agricultureswebsite and see that there are numerous documented incidents of Texans notgetting what they pay for at the pump. For years, until 1989, scales and gaspumps were inspected yearly. In 1989, the Legislature changed that to threeyears. In 2005, they dropped it again to four years saying it would save a paltryhalf million dollars and nine employees.

I propose rolling back the four-year inspection requirement to two years,and mandatory annual inspections for weights and measures devices habituallyfound to be out of compliance. I also propose a zero tolerance policy for habitualfuel cheaters. If a fuel retailer is found to be out of compliance as a result ofconsumer complaints more than three times in a year, it will be mandatory thatthey face criminal charges.

Additionally, farmers and ranchers, agricultural businesses, smallbusinesses, and Texas consumers shouldnt be shuffled from agency to agencyto get the help they need when it comes to agricultural issues in Texas. Youshouldnt have to contact one agency to promote the beef products that comefrom your cattle and another to protect those cattle from disease. Toward thatend, I propose moving the Texas Animal Health Commission under the controlof the Texas Department of Agriculture. The functions of this Commission, whichare to protect Texas livestock, are key to agriculture in Texas. Texas farmers andranchers shouldnt have to be shuffled between multiple agencies for theassistance they need.

I also propose moving the Texas Forest Service under the control of theTexas Department of Agriculture, and moving the Texas Wildlife Services fromTexas AgriLife Extension (and all feral hog abatement programs) under thecontrol of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERYTDA REFORM PLANPAGE 2


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In addition to streamlining the way farmers, ranchers, businesses andconsumers do business with the state when it comes to agriculture, Texas needsto do more to promote Texas agricultural productsand not just one or twoproducts.

To facilitate this, I propose passage of the Limited AgriculturalCooperatives Act, legislation allowing the creation of agricultural cooperativesallowing their members to enter into marketing contracts and requiring membersto sell a specified portion of their products through the cooperative to promote theproduction of Texas agricultural products. The passage of the Limited AgriculturalCooperatives Act would help farmers and ranchers in rural Texas obtain capitalnecessary to establish and expand agricultural cooperatives by allowinginvestment by non-agricultural investors.

I also propose the creation of the Texas Agricultural Infrastructure &Economic Development Fund to provide incentives to keep bring agribusiness to

Texas, to help create small and medium sized agribusinesses, and to help keepagricultural business in Texas. The Texas Agricultural Investment &Development Fund (Texas AID) would be funded through legislativeappropriation with an initial investment of $300 million in the fund. Texas AIDfunds would be utilized to attract agricultural business investment to Texas, helpexisting agricultural businesses expand, and help keep existing agriculturalbusiness in Texas by helping fund expansion, local tax and developmentincentives, and local infrastructure development. Texas AID funds would beawarded based on job creation, economic impact of the agricultural business tothe community, the impact the business has or will have one expanding marketsfor Texas agricultural products, and other matrices related to the economicimpact of the business.

I also proposes increasing the Texas Young Farmer Grant program toinclude grants up to $50,000.00

And, because Texans need to know that the agency tasked with runningthese programs is being operated fairly, legally, and appropriately, I proposecreating an Office of Inspector General within the Texas Department ofAgriculture. Every biennium, the Texas Department of Agriculture processes ordisburses millions of dollars worth of grant and other funding for programsranging from feral hog eradication to nutrition programs. Additionally, becausethe Texas Department of Agriculture is tasked with enforcement of dozens oflaws, and many more administrative penalties, an Office of Inspector General isnecessary to preserve the integrity of the agency, protect consumers, protect theenvironment, and keep a watchful eye on taxpayer funds.

Taxpayer dollars arent the only thing that need some protection from theTexas Department of Agriculture. Texas landowners need more protection, too.



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To protect Texas landowners, I propose establishing the Office Of Farmand Ranch Land Preservation under the Texas Department of Agriculture tooperate the Departments new eminent domain protection programs. This newdepartment will administer two new programs: The Agricultural PreservationAreas Program and The Agricultural Easements Program.

The Agriculture Preservation Areas Program will establish the statutoryauthority for landowners, counties, and the state to preserve farm and ranch landfrom development for successive ten year periods. Modeled after the successfulAgriculture Security Areas Program in use in Ohio, the APA program will allowthe preservation of farm and ranchland consisting of at least 500 contiguousacres. No new roads, utility, or pipe lines may be installed on the land withoutapproval from the Texas Department of Agricultures Office Of Farm and RanchLand Protection.

The Agricultural Easements Program, also similar to an Ohio program, the

Office of Farm and Ranch Land Preservation will be granted the authority toobtain and holdthrough purchase or donationagricultural easements to allowland to remain predominantly in agricultural production. The Department ofAgriculture would receive the statutory authority to take necessary steps to retainthe agricultural land gifted or acquired and continue agricultural production onthat land including but not limited to lease or rental of the property to personswho wish to engage the land in agricultural production. The land may also besold or leased to young farmers with provisions providing for a permanentagricultural easement so the land may not be sold for profit or otherwiseleveraged in a way that will take it out of agricultural production. The state willretain repurchase rights to the land.

Additionally, I propose that all state and local government bodies andagencies will be required to consult with the Office of Farm and Ranch LandPreservation before any agricultural land is taken for use for a publictransportation or other public project by use of eminent domain, and that theDepartment of Agriculture will have the statutory authority to stop any seizure offarm or ranch land through eminent domain if it determines that seizure isdetrimental to Texas Agriculture or the safety and security of the states foodsystem.

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Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Hank Gilbert