Hank Gilbert For

Agriculture
REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR July 28, 2010
Commissioner DELIVERY: TDA REFORM
NOTE: Mr. Gilbert frequently deviates from his prepared remarks.

Two years ago, peanuts contaminated with dangerous bacteria left a

peanut plant here in West Texas and entered the food chain with terrible
consequences.

In the two years since, as the Austin American-Statesman noted this

weekend, 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 one
saying, ‘it’s not our job,’ while the other agency struggles to keep up.

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

Today, I’m here in Abilene to release “Advancing Markets. Protecting

Consumers: Rebuilding the Texas Department of Agriculture for the 21st
Century,”—my campaign’s proposal for reforming the Texas Department of
Agriculture and streamlining the regulatory patchwork quilt that everyone from
agricultural producers to grocery stores to consumers are forced to deal with
each and every day.

The Texas Department of Agriculture can—and should—be doing more

for Texans. It has the potential to become the state’s strongest and best
consumer protection agency. However, under a succession of commissioners
who 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 or
change in the way the agency does business.

As I mentioned a moment ago, food safety is one shining example of the

need for reform at TDA. Under current law, food safety is the responsibility of
various state and federal agencies depending on the type of commodity you are
talking about or the facility being inspected. This kind of disjointed process puts
our food supply in jeopardy. Food is being imported to Texas today that from
other countries that use dangerous pesticides outlawed in this country, and our
fruits and vegetables are treated with those pesticides. Food is coming to market
from Texas and south of our border that is harvested under potentially unsafe
conditions where workers lack proper sanitation facilities and proper health
inspections.
 Under my plan, food safety inspections for grocery stores, convenience
stores, food wholesalers and warehouses, food processors, food manufacturers,
wholesale bakeries, beverage producers, refrigerated warehouses,
slaughterhouses, meat and poultry plants, and fish processors, would all be
centralized under the Texas Department of Agriculture.

As Commissioner, I will institute the TEXAS Food Safety & Security

Initiative to insure that Texas’ food supply is safe from the field to grocery store
shelves. That stands for “Tested, EXamined, Approved, & Secure,” and it will
require comprehensive food safety inspections for everything from grocery stores
to warehouses, processors, manufacturers, meat and poultry plants, and fish
processors.

Too, there are other areas presently under TDA’s jurisdiction where more
must be done to protect Texas consumers. Every day, Texas consumers
purchase gasoline, fruits, vegetables, and other commodities that are sold by
weight or volume. You can look on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s
website and see that there are numerous documented incidents of Texans not
getting what they pay for at the pump. For years, until 1989, scales and gas
pumps were inspected yearly. In 1989, the Legislature changed that to three
years. In 2005, they dropped it again to four years saying it would save a paltry
half 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 habitually
found to be out of compliance. I also propose a zero tolerance policy for habitual
fuel cheaters. If a fuel retailer is found to be out of compliance as a result of
consumer complaints more than three times in a year, it will be mandatory that
they face criminal charges.

Additionally, farmers and ranchers, agricultural businesses, small

businesses, and Texas consumers shouldn’t be shuffled from agency to agency
to get the help they need when it comes to agricultural issues in Texas. You
shouldn’t have to contact one agency to promote the beef products that come
from your cattle and another to protect those cattle from disease. Toward that
end, I propose moving the Texas Animal Health Commission under the control
of the Texas Department of Agriculture. The functions of this Commission, which
are to protect Texas livestock, are key to agriculture in Texas. Texas farmers and
ranchers shouldn’t have to be shuffled between multiple agencies for the
assistance they need.

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

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY—TDA REFORM PLAN—PAGE 2

 In addition to streamlining the way farmers, ranchers, businesses and
consumers do business with the state when it comes to agriculture, Texas needs
to do more to promote Texas agricultural products—and not just one or two
products.

To facilitate this, I propose passage of the Limited Agricultural

Cooperatives Act, legislation allowing the creation of agricultural cooperatives
allowing their members to enter into marketing contracts and requiring members
to sell a specified portion of their products through the cooperative to promote the
production of Texas agricultural products. The passage of the Limited Agricultural
Cooperatives Act would help farmers and ranchers in rural Texas obtain capital
necessary to establish and expand agricultural cooperatives by allowing
investment 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 keep
agricultural business in Texas. The Texas Agricultural Investment &
Development Fund (Texas AID) would be funded through legislative
appropriation with an initial investment of $300 million in the fund. Texas AID
funds would be utilized to attract agricultural business investment to Texas, help
existing agricultural businesses expand, and help keep existing agricultural
business in Texas by helping fund expansion, local tax and development
incentives, and local infrastructure development. Texas AID funds would be
awarded based on job creation, economic impact of the agricultural business to
the community, the impact the business has or will have one expanding markets
for Texas agricultural products, and other matrices related to the economic
impact of the business.

I also proposes increasing the Texas Young Farmer Grant program to

include grants up to $50,000.00

And, because Texans need to know that the agency tasked with running
these programs is being operated fairly, legally, and appropriately, I propose
creating an Office of Inspector General within the Texas Department of
Agriculture. Every biennium, the Texas Department of Agriculture processes or
disburses millions of dollars worth of grant and other funding for programs
ranging from feral hog eradication to nutrition programs. Additionally, because
the Texas Department of Agriculture is tasked with enforcement of dozens of
laws, and many more administrative penalties, an Office of Inspector General is
necessary to preserve the integrity of the agency, protect consumers, protect the
environment, and keep a watchful eye on taxpayer funds.

Taxpayer dollars aren’t the only thing that need some protection from the
Texas Department of Agriculture. Texas landowners need more protection, too.

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY—TDA REFORM PLAN—PAGE 3

 To protect Texas landowners, I propose establishing the Office Of Farm
and Ranch Land Preservation under the Texas Department of Agriculture to
operate the Department’s new eminent domain protection programs. This new
department will administer two new programs: The Agricultural Preservation
Areas Program and The Agricultural Easements Program.

The Agriculture Preservation Areas Program will establish the statutory

authority for landowners, counties, and the state to preserve farm and ranch land
from development for successive ten year periods. Modeled after the successful
Agriculture Security Areas Program in use in Ohio, the APA program will allow
the preservation of farm and ranchland consisting of at least 500 contiguous
acres. No new roads, utility, or pipe lines may be installed on the land without
approval from the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Office Of Farm and Ranch
Land Protection.

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

Office of Farm and Ranch Land Preservation will be granted the authority to
obtain and hold—through purchase or donation—agricultural easements to allow
land to remain predominantly in agricultural production. The Department of
Agriculture would receive the statutory authority to take necessary steps to retain
the agricultural land gifted or acquired and continue agricultural production on
that land including but not limited to lease or rental of the property to persons
who wish to engage the land in agricultural production. The land may also be
sold or leased to young farmers with provisions providing for a permanent
agricultural easement so the land may not be sold for profit or otherwise
leveraged in a way that will take it out of agricultural production. The state will
retain repurchase rights to the land.

Additionally, I propose that all state and local government bodies and
agencies will be required to consult with the Office of Farm and Ranch Land
Preservation before any agricultural land is taken for use for a public
transportation or other public project by use of eminent domain, and that the
Department of Agriculture will have the statutory authority to stop any seizure of
farm or ranch land through eminent domain if it determines that seizure is
detrimental to Texas Agriculture or the safety and security of the state’s food
system.

[End]

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY—TDA REFORM PLAN—PAGE 4