Texas. Department of Agriculture

In 1974, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) established the Family Land Heritage Program in order to honor families who have continuously operated Texas farms and ranches for at least 100 years. That same year, the TDA printed the first registry of honorees and hosted the first Family Land Heritage Day, during which the families received certificates by the Agricultural Commissioner. The program still continues, with new honorees accepted to the registry every year. Applicants submit a form with information about when the land was settled and by whom, how the applicant relates to the founder, information about the crops and buildings of the farm or ranch, historical significance of the land, and a brief family history. Supplemental documentation, such as deeds or photographs, is required to prove the founding year and the family ownership of the farm or ranch.

The Texas Department of Agriculture was established by legislation of the 30th Texas Legislature (House Bill 274 and Senate Joint Resolution 13, Regular Session) in 1907. Until then, official agricultural business had been conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History. Departmental duties included gathering statistics, publishing agricultural information, and holding farmers' institutes to promote advanced farming methods and practices. In 1925 the department's duties were greatly expanded when it assumed tasks previously handled by the Department of Markets and Warehouses, including inspection of weights and measures, operation of the market news service, and supervision of gins, warehouses, and farmers' co-ops (House Bill 2, 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925).

After a nearly twenty year tenure as Agriculture Commissioner, James E. McDonald was defeated in the election of 1950 by John C. White, who proceeded to undertake the department’s first major organizational overhaul, decentralized the agency, initiated the first cooperative effort with Mexico to control insect pests, encouraged state legislation for registration and analysis of agricultural chemicals, and established laboratories to test chemical residues and contaminants before and during harvest. Under White the department inaugurated the Texas Agricultural Products marketing project to promote Texas products. It also began the Family Land Heritage Program, an annual program honoring Texas farmers and ranchers who have worked their land for 100 years or more. From the spring of 1975 to January 1983 the department published TDA Quarterly, a glossy magazine on agricultural issues designed for a popular audience. White resigned in 1977 to become deputy United States secretary of agriculture. Governor Dolph Briscoe appointed Reagan V. Brown to succeed him. In 1978 Brown was elected under the new statute providing four-year terms for statewide elected officials (proposed by Senate Joint Resolution 1, 62nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1971). To prevent the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly from California to Texas in 1981, Brown required California produce to be fumigated before entering the state. Under special legislation passed during the fruit-fly crisis, the department was authorized to seize or destroy infested products and to stop interstate and intrastate traffic to enforce the law (House Bill 151, 67th Legislature, First Called Session, 1981). Brown also worked to halt the spread of the imported fire ant.

Jim Hightower became the eighth commissioner of agriculture on New Year's Day, 1983. His major initiatives included establishing a state network of farmers' markets and wholesale marketing cooperatives, expanding the program to help producers sell directly in international markets, updating the existing Texas Agricultural Products promotion (renamed the Taste of Texas program), helping farmers and ranchers get financing to build processing and marketing facilities, encouraging new agricultural development of such products as wine grapes and native plants, opening an office of natural resources to work with rural residents and farmers on farmland conservation, rural water quality, and water conservation, and increasing the department's voice in shaping national policies that affect Texas agriculture. In addition, the department's Right to Know Division, established to implement the 1987 agricultural-hazards communication act (House Bill 1896, 70th Legislature, Regular Session), worked to keep farmers and farmworkers informed on hazardous pesticides they might encounter in their work. In 1986 the department began publishing the Texas Gazette, a bimonthly newsletter about department affairs, and the fall of 1987 saw the first issue of Grassroots, an irregularly published serial focusing on the environment and consumer topics. The department also continued its publication of numerous brochures on both specialized and popular topics, ranging from directories of agricultural cooperatives to Texas wines and wineries. In the late 1980s the department had a staff of 575 and administered forty-nine laws that affected numerous agriculture-related matters, including pesticide registration, egg quality, accuracy of scales and gasoline pumps, citrus fruit maturity, seed purity, and fire ant control.

Since the enactment of the Texas Sunset Act in 1977 the Texas Department of Agriculture has been subject to review every twelve years by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission. When the department came up for its first review in 1989, controversy occurred over the possibility of either making the post of agricultural commissioner an appointed one or eliminating the department entirely. Though eventually the department was continued with an elected commissioner, several changes were implemented in the agency's structure, including the establishment of a nine-member board, chaired by the agriculture commissioner, which was charged with overseeing pesticide regulation (Senate Bill 489, 71st Legislature, Regular Session, 1989). This was an authority that had previously been granted to the commissioner of agriculture alone. In 1994 the commissioner of agriculture was Rick Perry, who defeated Jim Hightower in the 1990 election. The budget for fiscal year 1995 was $21,584,790. At that time the Texas Department of Agriculture had market and regulatory powers and administered over fifty laws. To perform its duties it had five regional centers, seven suboffices, and eleven divisions.

In 1998, Susan Combs, a fourth-generation rancher, was elected the state's 10th commissioner of agriculture and was the first woman to hold this position in the state's history. After serving two terms, she was elected Comptroller of Public Accounts. Todd Staples was elected Texas’ 11th commissioner in 2006 and won a second term in 2010.

The department, with headquarters in Austin, has twelve district offices-in Amarillo, Beaumont, Brenham, Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, Odessa, San Antonio, San Juan, Stephenville, Tyler, and Vernon. Its consumer-services division is one of the largest in the state administration. Current duties include promoting Texas agricultural products locally, nationally and internationally; assisting in the development of the agribusiness industry in Texas; regulating the sale, use and disposal of pesticides and herbicides; controlling destructive plant pests and diseases; and ensuring the accuracy of all weighing or measuring devices (such as grocery scales and gas pumps) used in commercial transactions.

TDA includes: five regional centers in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio, and San Juan; four suboffices in Amarillo, Corpus Christi, El Paso, and Tyler; three seed laboratories in Giddings, Lubbock, and Stephenville; six export pens in Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Houston, and Laredo; six Cooperative Inspection Program Facilities in Alamo, Austin, Brownsville, Gorman, Pearsall, and Pleasanton; and a pesticide laboratory in Brenham. Agricultural programs are carried out by the Marketing and Agribusiness Development Division, Pesticide Programs Division, Producer Services Division, and Regulatory Programs Division. Supporting TDA divisions consist of Administration, Communications, General Counsel, Intergovernmental Affairs and Internal Audit. In addition, the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service and the Texas Cooperative Inspection Program are joint federal-state programs operated by TDA and the federal government. The service provides state, district, and county estimates for major field crops, small grains, livestock, fruit, pecans, and vegetables, while the inspection program oversees the quality inspection of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and peanuts. TDA also works in conjunction with the Agriculture Resources Protection Authority on pesticide issues, the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Inc. regarding boll weevil eradication, the Texas Food and Fibers Commission on natural fibers development and plant food protein research, and a variety of advisory boards. Finally, TDA administers the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority, which provides financial assistance to agriculture related businesses for the production, processing, marketing, and export of Texas agricultural products.

This summary is a compilation of texts found in the Online Handbook of Texas, the Guide to Texas State Agencies, and on the Texas Department of Agriculture's website.

The Texas Department of Agriculture was established by legislation of the 30th Legislature (House Bill 274 and Senate Joint Resolution 13, Regular Session) in 1907. Until then, official agricultural business had been conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History. Commissioner Robert Teague Milner was appointed until the 1908 general election could be held. The new agency had a staff of four, including the commissioner. Departmental duties included gathering statistics, publishing agricultural information, and holding farmers' institutes to promote advanced farming methods and practices. Under Milner the agency began to reflect the role it would play as a regulatory arm and advocate for cotton farmers. A cotton bureau was established in 1907 to prevent falsifying the size of Texas cotton crops. In his only report to Governor Thomas M. Campbell, Milner complained that the $17,038 department budget was inadequate. In 1908 Milner accepted the presidency of Texas A&M University. Edward Reeves Kone was selected to take his place and was elected to office in 1908, 1910, and 1912. Kone frequently traveled around the state to talk to farmers. In 1910 he and members of his staff made a 1,280-mile rail tour of Texas to give demonstrations to thousands of farmers and persuaded the legislature to increase the agency's budget to $30,178 for fiscal year 1909-10.

Fred Davis succeeded Kone in 1915 and worked to improve the lot of cotton farmers. Although cotton dominated Texas agriculture, prices paid to farmers rarely covered costs. Davis urged growers to figure expenses and withhold cotton from the market until a fair predetermined price was reached. Though his campaign failed, it helped farmers develop more accurate estimates of production costs. A severe drought in 1917, up to then the driest year in Texas history, added to producers' economic woes. The department recorded crop and livestock losses in two-thirds of the state. Through Davis' efforts the department helped to get farmers who had food and feed to sell in contact with prospective buyers. This project was a forerunner of the agency's direct-marketing program. During Davis' final year in office, 1920, the department had 137 employees in seven divisions and a $225,422 budget.

George B. Terrell, commissioner from 1921 to 1930, increased the department's services to farmers and promoted the state's citrus industry. In 1925 the department's duties were greatly expanded when it assumed tasks previously handled by the Department of Markets and Warehouses, including inspection of weights and measures, operation of the market news service, and supervision of gins, warehouses, and farmers' co-ops (House Bill 2, 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925). The marketing bureau encouraged sales of more than $2.5 million in Texas agricultural products by introducing sellers to prospective buyers. Terrell continued a battle begun under Davis against the pink bollworm, a destructive pest that threatened the state's cotton industry. James E. McDonald succeeded Terrell in 1931. During his administration the Low Water Dam and Jacks and Stallions divisions were founded and eliminated. The Low Water Dam Division encouraged farmers to conserve water by building sloughs and ravines. Jacks and Stallions distributed registered and high-grade mules and horses over the state for the purpose of breeding. McDonald's administration also saw the establishment of processing plants for Texas fruits and vegetables and the expansion of the sweet potato, tomato, citrus, black-eyed pea, watermelon, truck-farming, poultry, dairy, and nursery and floral industries. McDonald was reelected every two years until twenty-five-year-old John C. White defeated him in 1950.

In the first major overhaul of the department, White decentralized the agency, initiated the first cooperative effort with Mexico to control insect pests, encouraged state legislation for registration and analysis of agricultural chemicals, and established laboratories to test chemical residues and contaminants before and during harvest. Under White the department inaugurated the Texas Agricultural Products marketing project to promote Texas products. It also began the Family Land Heritage Program, an annual program honoring Texas farmers and ranchers who have worked their land for 100 years or more. From the spring of 1975 to January 1983 the department published TDA Quarterly, a glossy magazine on agricultural issues designed for a popular audience. White resigned in 1977 to become deputy United States secretary of agriculture. Governor Dolph Briscoe appointed Reagan V. Brown to succeed him. In 1978 Brown was elected under the new statute providing four-year terms for statewide elected officials (proposed by Senate Joint Resolution 1, 62nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1971). To prevent the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly from California to Texas in 1981, Brown required California produce to be fumigated before entering the state. Under special legislation passed during the fruit-fly crisis, the department was authorized to seize or destroy infested products and to stop interstate and intrastate traffic to enforce the law (House Bill 151, 67th Legislature, First Called Session, 1981). Brown also worked to halt the spread of the imported fire ant.

Jim Hightower became the eighth commissioner of agriculture on New Year's Day, 1983. His major initiatives included establishing a state network of farmers' markets and wholesale marketing cooperatives, expanding the program to help producers sell directly in international markets, updating the existing Texas Agricultural Products promotion (renamed the Taste of Texas program), helping farmers and ranchers get financing to build processing and marketing facilities, encouraging new agricultural development of such products as wine grapes and native plants, opening an office of natural resources to work with rural residents and farmers on farmland conservation, rural water quality, and water conservation, and increasing the department's voice in shaping national policies that affect Texas agriculture. In addition, the department's Right to Know Division, established to implement the 1987 agricultural-hazards communication act (House Bill 1896, 70th Legislature, Regular Session), worked to keep farmers and farmworkers informed on hazardous pesticides they might encounter in their work. In 1986 the department began publishing the Texas Gazette, a bimonthly newsletter about department affairs, and the fall of 1987 saw the first issue of Grassroots, an irregularly published serial focusing on the environment and consumer topics. The department also continued its publication of numerous brochures on both specialized and popular topics, ranging from directories of agricultural cooperatives to Texas wines and wineries. In the late 1980s the department had a staff of 575 and administered forty-nine laws that affected numerous agriculture-related matters, including pesticide registration, egg quality, accuracy of scales and gasoline pumps, citrus fruit maturity, seed purity, and fire ant control.

Since the enactment of the Texas Sunset Act in 1977 the Texas Department of Agriculture has been subject to review every twelve years by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission. When the department came up for its first review in 1989, controversy occurred over the possibility of either making the post of agricultural commissioner an appointed one or eliminating the department entirely. Though eventually the department was continued with an elected commissioner, several changes were implemented in the agency's structure, including the establishment of a nine-member board, chaired by the agriculture commissioner, which was charged with overseeing pesticide regulation (Senate Bill 489, 71st Legislature, Regular Session, 1989). This was an authority that had previously been granted to the commissioner of agriculture alone. In 1994 the commissioner of agriculture was Rick Perry, who defeated Jim Hightower in the 1990 election. The budget for fiscal year 1995 was $21,584,790. At that time the Texas Department of Agriculture had market and regulatory powers and administered over fifty laws. To perform its duties it had five regional centers, seven suboffices, and eleven divisions.

In 1998, Susan Combs, a fourth-generation rancher, was elected the state's 10th commissioner of agriculture and is the first woman to hold this position in the state's history. The department, with headquarters in Austin, has twelve district offices-in Amarillo, Beaumont, Brenham, Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, Odessa, San Antonio, San Juan, Stephenville, Tyler, and Vernon. Its consumer-services division is one of the largest in the state administration. Current duties include promoting Texas agricultural products locally, nationally and internationally; assisting in the development of the agribusiness industry in Texas; regulating the sale, use and disposal of pesticides and herbicides; controlling destructive plant pests and diseases; and ensuring the accuracy of all weighing or measuring devices (such as grocery scales and gas pumps) used in commercial transactions.

TDA includes: five regional centers in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio, and San Juan; four suboffices in Amarillo, Corpus Christi, El Paso, and Tyler; three seed laboratories in Giddings, Lubbock, and Stephenville; six export pens in Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Houston, and Laredo; six Cooperative Inspection Program Facilities in Alamo, Austin, Brownsville, Gorman, Pearsall, and Pleasanton; and a pesticide laboratory in Brenham. Agricultural programs are carried out by the Marketing and Agribusiness Development Division, Pesticide Programs Division, Producer Services Division, and Regulatory Programs Division. Supporting TDA divisions consist of Administration, Communications, General Counsel, Intergovernmental Affairs and Internal Audit. In addition, the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service and the Texas Cooperative Inspection Program are joint federal-state programs operated by TDA and the federal government. The service provides state, district, and county estimates for major field crops, small grains, livestock, fruit, pecans, and vegetables, while the inspection program oversees the quality inspection of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and peanuts. TDA also works in conjunction with the Agriculture Resources Protection Authority on pesticide issues, the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Inc. regarding boll weevil eradication, the Texas Food and Fibers Commission on natural fibers development and plant food protein research, and a variety of advisory boards. Finally, TDA administers the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority, which provides financial assistance to agriculture related businesses for the production, processing, marketing, and export of Texas agricultural products.

This summary is a compilation of texts found in the Online Handbook of Texas, the Guide to Texas State Agencies, and on the Texas Department of Agriculture's website.