Agriculture commissioner asks Senate to back software, staffing and vehicle funding amid rising biosecurity threats

Commissioner Harper told the Senate Natural Resources Committee that the Department of Agriculture’s FY27 request seeks to make temporary pandemic and startup spending permanent, shore up staffing shortfalls and replace aging field vehicles.

Harper said the governor’s budget included $140,000 for food‑safety licensing software and the House raised that add to $293,000. He said that figure, together with recurring hosting and maintenance for lab and inspection software across food safety, animal health and structural pest programs, brings the department’s ongoing need to roughly $320,000. “When you add that in with the $140,000 for food safety it brings it to about $3.20,” he told the committee.

Why it matters: department officials said recurring software fees are shifting from one‑time purchases to annual costs and the agency needs a stable funding stream to maintain inspection and licensing operations that support food and livestock markets statewide.

Commissioner Harper also outlined workforce gaps and a vehicle‑fleet request. He told senators the department currently has 73 vacancies, 62 of which are inspection‑related, and said the House increased a recruitment and retention add from roughly $1.0 million in the governor’s proposal to $2.1 million in the House. “We are making progress,” Harper said, but added that the shortfall continues to affect inspection capacity and local economic development.

Harper described a separate capital ask: replacement of 48 vehicles at a cost of $2,280,000. He framed the fleet request as both a safety and a recruitment/retention measure: many field employees drive state vehicles as their office and the department has experienced liability incidents tied to employees using personal vehicles. “This replacement request for 48 vehicles will not address that [entire] problem,” Harper said, adding the department would follow up with more details on how many employees still use personal vehicles.

Biosecurity and reimbursements: Harper told the committee the department is preparing for an array of animal‑health threats — highly pathogenic avian influenza, the spotted lanternfly, the yellow‑legged hornet and the new‑world screwworm — and that some federal reimbursements (for example, for yellow‑legged hornet response) are being reduced or eliminated. He said those lost federal dollars increase the need for state funding to preserve emergency response capacity.

What comes next: Harper asked the Senate to consider the House adjustments and to provide the remaining funding needed to meet the agency’s estimates in the FY27 budget. He said he would provide committee members with follow‑up detail on specific line items and exact counts of employees using personal vehicles.

Sources: Commissioner Harper’s presentation and Q&A with committee members, Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing (SEG 018–SEG 288; SEG 289–SEG 534).