INDIANAPOLIS – In Indiana the lieutenant governor serves as secretary of agriculture. However, the Agricultural Promotion and Regulation Task Force recently recommended that Indiana create a secretary of agriculture to oversee the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).

The cabinet-level secretary of agriculture would report directly to Indiana’s governor.  

“To best support our farmers, we need to have a dedicated secretary of agriculture who reports to the governor,” Sen. Jean Leising (R-42nd district), Senate majority member on the task force, said in a release. “I am pleased to see this language in the approved committee report, and I will continue working with members of the agricultural community to ensure they are getting the most efficient support possible.”

The Agricultural Promotion and Regulation Task Force made its recommendations during an Oct. 13 meeting, the final of three for the group. The committee recommended additional funding for the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and the creation of a local foods division under the ISDA. It endorsed establishing in statute the requirement that the ISDA support, staff and aid the Indiana FFA Association.

The task forced passed its final report, which contained 18 recommendations, by a 13-1 vote.

“I think the intent of the task force originally was to elevate the stature of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture because of the prominent place of agriculture in Indiana’s economy,” Sen. Susan Glick (R-13th district), who voted in favor of the report, said during the meeting. 

Rep. J.D. Prescott (R-33rd district) voted against the final report. He said it’s unnecessary to remove the secretary of agriculture from the lieutenant governor’s office and make it an appointed cabinet-level position. Instead, he said he wanted to empower the lieutenant governor’s office by making it a full statutory position of secretary of agriculture, with complete oversight over budget, personnel and other items within that office.

“(This would) make it a true position of secretary of agriculture and not just a title without a role,” Prescott noted.

During the task force’s Sept. 2 meeting, ISDA Director Don Lamb said he wanted the task force to focus on agriculture.

“When I think about what we’re talking about from this task force, I want people to think about agriculture, not an agency,” he said. “So when we think about what the department of agriculture does and how we work, I really want it to be focused on agriculture as an industry, because that’s our job – to support agriculture. It’s really not so much about what the agency itself looks like, it’s how do we do our work, how do we do our work the best.”

At the same meeting, Katie Nelson, Indiana Farm Bureau executive director of public policy, said farm bureau has had internal discussions about the proposed secretary of agriculture position.

“When we look at that (position), it needs to be forward facing,” she said. “What do we want it to look like no matter who is in the position that Don (Lamb) is in right now. We all like Don, we don’t have any issues with Don, but who knows who’s going to be there in six years and 12 years and 20 years.

“I’ve been working here in Indiana agriculture for a decade now and this conversation about who should be the secretary of ag has been a part of that conversation since the day I started here in Indiana. I want to make sure that conversation is about the position and not the person.”

Other recommendations in the report include increased funding for the Indiana Grain Buyers and Warehouse Licensing Agency, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, the livestock market reporting program and the Indiana Grown program.

The task force also recommended ISDA be given the authority, duty and funding to manage conservation easements. The General Assembly should further support family farms with succession planning programs and incentivize younger generations to own and operate family farms, the report said.