Florida Department of Agriculture

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is an executive department of the government of Florida.

The Commissioner of Agriculture (directly elected by voters statewide for a four-year term, and a member of the Florida Cabinet) is the head of the department. The current commissioner is Nikki Fried.

History

The Florida Constitution of 1868 provided for the creation of the Office of Commissioner of Immigration, whose duties consisted of attracting settlers to engage in agriculture. The Florida Constitution was amended in 1871 to consolidate the offices of Surveyor General and Commissioner of Immigration as the new Commissioner of Lands and Immigration. In 1885, the Constitution was revised and the Commissioner of Lands and Immigration post was renamed Commissioner of Agriculture. The duties of the Commissioner of Agriculture were revised to include supervision of the state prisons. (A Division of Corrections was created in 1957 and state prisons were removed from the list of Commissioner of Agriculture responsibilities).

The Agricultural Services Reorganization Act (ASRA) was passed in 1959 and became effective January 15, 1961. This state law abolished some independent boards and bureaus, which were assigned to the Department of Agriculture's divisions. These included: Administration, Animal Industry, Dairy Industry, Fruit and Vegetable Inspection, Marketing, Plant Industry, Inspection and Standards. The State Chemist, a position that existed since 1891, was moved to the new Division of Chemistry.

The Legislature created the Office of Consumer Services in 1967. The Executive Reorganization Act of 1969 renamed the Office of Consumer Services the Division of Consumer Services and the Board of Forestry the Division of Forestry. The Department of Agriculture was renamed the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

The 1992 Legislature passed Chapter 92-291 of the Laws of Florida, which formally organized the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services into the following divisions: Administration, Agricultural Environmental Services (AES), Animal Industry, Plant Industry, Marketing and Development, Dairy Industry, Food Safety, Fruit and Vegetables, Consumer Services, Forestry, Standards, Aquaculture, and Licensing.

In addition to the above divisions, the FDACS includes separate offices for Agricultural Law Enforcement, Agricultural Water Policy, Agricultural Emergency Preparedness, the Inspector General, as well as for the Commissioner of Agriculture.

Organization

The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is headed by the commissioner, who is elected statewide to a four-year term. The commissioner is assisted in managing the department by a chief of staff, three deputy commissioners and one assistant deputy commissioner. The department is organizated into twelve programmatic Divisions and one support division, each headed by a division director. Each division is subdivided into bureaus, with each headed by a bureau chief. The bureaus are further subdivided into sections.

Discrimination policy

In January 2019, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (in the past was called the Florida Agricultural Commission) explicitly added sexual orientation and gender identity to their discrimination workplace policy.

References

External links

Official website (department homepage)Division of Consumer Services official website

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State agencies of Florida
State departments of agriculture of the United States
1870 establishments in Florida