Department of Agriculture urges Senate to preserve budget adds for inspections, emergency response and rural center staff

The Department of Agriculture told the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee that its FY26 amended budget and House additions are critical to maintaining food safety, emergency response and licensing services.

The commissioner presenting to the committee said agriculture is Georgia’s largest private-sector industry (about $91.5 billion and roughly 350,000 workers) and that the agency now runs 22 divisions and issues about 70 license types. The department described a roughly 80/20 split between state and federal funding and noted multiple “pass-through” entities are housed administratively by the department but not normally operationally controlled by it.

Why it matters: the agency said it cannot sustain current service levels without the House additions and the governor’s salary supplement. The commissioner told senators the House’s changes addressed COLA shortfalls and included funding for inspection/ licensing software, employee retention and a one-time $2,000 supplement that is already in the governor’s plan.

What the department reported: the agency is awaiting final approval from USDA on a block-grant application; once USDA clears the grant the department will post applications on farmrecovery.com. The department also said it has expended about $263,000 responding to three commercial highly pathogenic avian influenza detections so far this year, and that some response costs — including Starlink satellite units used at sites with no cell service — are not federally reimbursable.

Staffing and licensing pressures: the agency noted a 33% increase in licensed entities over three years while staffing has increased by about 12%, producing higher workloads for inspectors. The department reported roughly 80 vacancies systemwide, with about 60 in consumer-protection areas. The commissioner and staff urged the committee to maintain the House line items for inspection software (lines cited in the presentation) and to help transfer the rural center’s salary supplement so all four employees receive the one-time pay increase.

Committee questions focused on how long software investments should last and the cadence of equipment refreshes; the presenters said the software is expected to remain viable for 5–10 years and that laptops generally last four to five years in the field. Senators pressed for more precise vacancy breakdowns and the department offered to provide exact numbers to the committee staff.

The committee took no formal vote during the session; presenters said they would follow up with requested data and additional budget breakdowns.