Texas Department of Agriculture:

An Inventory of Department of Agriculture Records at the Texas State Archives, 1924-2001, undated, bulk 1960-1997

Agency History

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) promotes production agriculture, consumer protection, economic development and healthy living. The agency was established in 1907 by the 30th Texas Legislature (House Bill 274 and Senate Joint Resolution 13, Regular Session). Until then, official agricultural business had been conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History as stipulated by the 20th Legislature in 1887. 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. In 1925 the department's duties were expanded when it assumed tasks previously handled by the Department of Markets and Warehouses (House Bill 2, 39th Legislature, Regular Session), including inspection of weights and measures, operation of the market news service, and supervision of gins, warehouses, and farmers' co-ops.

In the first major overhaul of the department, John C. White decentralized the agency when he was elected commissioner in 1950. He 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 the 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 as his successor. 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 that California produce be fumigated before entering the state. 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 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.

Since the enactment of the Texas Sunset Act in 1977, TDA has been subject to review every 12 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 commissioner, which was charged with overseeing pesticide regulation (Senate Bill 489, 71st Legislature, Regular Session). This was an authority that had previously been granted to the commissioner alone. Rick Perry succeeded Jim Hightower as commissioner in the 1990 election and remained in the post till 1998, at which point Susan Combs, a fourth-generation rancher, was elected the state's 10th commissioner of agriculture. Combs remains the first woman to hold this position in the state's history. As of January 2015, Sid Miller is the twelfth commissioner of the department.

TDA is headquartered in Austin and has five regional service offices (in Houston, Dallas, Lubbock, San Antonio, and San Juan), two sub-offices, three laboratories and five livestock export facilities. As of February 2015, TDA has regulatory and marketing responsibilities and administers more than 50 separate laws. The agency's 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 (like grocery scales or gas pumps) used in commercial transactions.

The Administrative Services Division provides administrative support functions to the agency, including human resources, risk management, emergency management, information technology, licensing, records retention, office space, warehousing and mail services. The Agriculture and Consumer Protection (ACP) Division was created on September 1, 2011, by merging the former pesticide and regulatory programs and incorporating regional operations. It is further divided into two areas – Consumer Protection and Agriculture Protection and Certification. ACP programs ensure the quality and quantity of various consumer products and services, and involve a wide variety of responsibilities aimed at enforcing statutory requirements and providing value-added certification of agricultural products. The Office of Communications ensures that information about TDA and its programs are communicated to the public and news media. The Financial Services Division provides financial support functions to the agency, including financial management, purchasing, accounts payable, budget, and contracts management. The Food and Nutrition Division is responsible for safeguarding the health and well-being of the state’s citizens by ensuring nutritionally adequate meals are provided; encouraging adults and children to gain an understanding of the relationship between proper eating and good health; and providing learning experiences designed to result in healthier lifestyle choices. The General Counsel provides ethics and legal advice to all programs and divisions and is the agency’s liaison with the state’s attorney general. The Enforcement Section prosecutes administrative violations of consumer laws and regulations pertaining to plants, seeds, egg quality, weights and measures, commodity warehouses and the Agriculture Code and related rules. The Office of Internal Audit is the independent auditor established within TDA to examine and evaluate its activities as a service to the agency. The Office of Policy and External Relations Division serves as an agency liaison working with stakeholders, producer groups, researchers and local, state and federal governments. The Trade and Business Development Division works to support TDA’s mission by improving and empowering rural communities through economic development, infrastructure improvements and advancement in health care. The division also markets and promotes Texas products, cultures and communities through the GO TEXAN branded campaign and provides grants, loans and other opportunities to promote and support Texas agriculture.

(Sources include: Valerie Crosswell, Texas Department of Agriculture, Handbook of Texas Online, various editions of the Guide to Texas State Agencies, Texas Department of Agriculture's 2014-2015 Legislative Appropriations Request, and the website of the Texas Department of Agriculture, all accessed on February 12, 2015.)

Scope and Contents of the Records

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) promotes production agriculture, consumer protection, economic development and healthy living. These records consist of meeting files, correspondence, memoranda, notes, agenda, manuals, transcripts, rules, clippings, drafts, notices, witness logs, registration cards, organization charts, reports, contracts, complaint and request forms, financial statements, bonds, oaths, election results, legal documents, press releases, speeches, pamphlets, computer tapes and disks, database printouts, photographs, contact sheets, negatives, slides, printed materials, audiotapes, videotapes, and motion picture film that document TDA from 1924 to 2001, undated, bulk 1960-1997.

Meeting files document the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority, Texas Agricultural Diversification Program Board, Texas Agriculture Resources Protection Authority, Texas Board of Plant Breeder Examiners, Texas State Seed and Plant Board, Texas Produce Recovery Fund Board, GO TEXAN Partner Program Advisory Committee, Texas Prescribed Burning Board and a variety of other related bodies. The files document the work of the boards and committees in administering the programs that provide loans and grants to agriculture-related businesses; promoting agricultural diversification in Texas and market expansion and consumer awareness of Texas agricultural products; establishing environmental rules, regulations and prescribed burning standards; and managing seed quality and development, pesticides and pest eradication, herbicides, and ground and surface water. Also included are meeting files from non-Texas organizations that the department was involved with.

Among the other major records series, Producer Board files document the creation, activities, and occasional dissolution of local Texas producer boards operating under the oversight of TDA. These boards represented various agricultural products and livestock, addressing subjects such as pests and predators, disease, marketing, education, crop and livestock production, drought, and other topics of concern. The Reports series includes both budget and market reports. Market reports document the daily demand in Texas for various commodities and include the status of those commodities in other regional markets. Produce covered by the reports includes turkeys, eggs, chickens, rice, fruits and vegetables, watermelon, grains, grain sorghum, and pecans. Litigation files document possible violations of Texas agriculture laws and restitutions made by the violator, particularly regarding the sale of agricultural products with an expired or invalid license, improper use of pesticides, and investigations of complaints involving the application of pesticides. Speeches and Press releases illustrate the public activities of commissioners John C. White, Reagan Brown, Jim Hightower, and Rick Perry. Additional information about the agency's operations and functions can be found in the Organization charts, Rules and procedures, and Nuclear waste studies series.

A variety of sound, video, and motion picture recordings document many of the activities and public appearances of commissioners Jim Hightower and Rick Perry. Subjects of the footage include TDA offices and other facilities; regulatory and promotional activities; Texas agricultural products in all phases from field to retailer; tours of agricultural facilities including processing plants, gins, sheds, wineries, etc.; press conferences; the State Fair of Texas and other livestock shows; conferences; interviews; and general shots of Texas agricultural areas. The recordings are unedited.

The Photographic materials offer a visual record of the department's regulatory and marketing responsibilities. They provide an in-depth portrait of the variety in Texas agriculture, from its crops and produce to its livestock, poultry and aquaculture, as well as show different aspects of rural and city life, Texas infrastructure, and local businesses and manufacturing. The materials demonstrates TDA's regulatory responsibilities for the safety of Texas farm workers, crops, produce, poultry, dairy and livestock for sale and export, monitoring destructive pests and pesticide use, promoting sustainable agriculture, and managing agricultural exchange programs. The detailed finding aid for this series can be found in the Texas Department of Agriculture photograph collection.

To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including, but not limited to: trade secrets (Texas Government Code, Section 552.110); home addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers of government employees and officials (Texas Government Code, Section 552.117); credit card numbers (Texas Government Code, Section 552.136); medical information (Texas Government Code, Section 552.101 (information confidential by law, Texas Occupations Code, Section 159.002(b)); and attorney-client privilege, agency memoranda or attorney work product (Texas Government Code, Section 552.107 or 111); an archivist must review these records before they can be accessed for research.

The records may be requested for research under the provisions of the Public Information Act (Texas Government Code, Chapter 552). The researcher may request an interview with an archivist or submit a request by mail (Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711), fax (512-463-5436), email (director.librarian@tsl.texas.gov), or see our web page (https://www.tsl.texas.gov/agency/customer/pia.html). Include enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information. If our review reveals information that may be excepted by the Public Information Act, we are obligated to seek an open records decision from the Attorney General on whether the records can be released. The Public Information Act allows the Archives ten working days after receiving a request to make this determination. The Attorney General has 45 working days to render a decision. Alternately, the Archives can inform you of the nature of the potentially excepted information and if you agree, that information can be redacted or removed and you can access the remainder of the records.

Several records series described in this finding aid have access restrictions specific to each of them. The terms of access are found following the relevant series descriptions.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

Researchers are required to use gloves provided by the State Archives when reviewing photographic materials.

Researchers wishing to access content on the floppy disks, audiotapes and/or video cassettes must contact State Archives staff. The Archives may not have the appropriate equipment to play back all formats.

The floppy disks have not been accessed by State Archives staff. Their content and the software used to created them have not been verified.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas Department of Agriculture records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession numbers: 1992/295, 1993/167, 1994/099, 1997/048, 1997/049, 1998/020, 1998/021, 1998/022, 1998/033, 1999/109, 2000/023, 2000/024, 2000/025, 2000/026, 2000/112, 2000/113, 2000/114, 2000/173, 2001/061, 2001/062, 2001/063, 2001/064, 2001/065, 2001/078, 2002/084, 2002/085, 2012/124

These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Department of Agriculture on July 23, 1992; May 14, 1993; May 20, 1994; December 6 and December 9, 1996; October 10, 1997; November 10, 1997; February 12, 1999; September 29, 1999; February 17, 2000; July 18, 2000; November 15, 2000; December 19, 2000; December 13, 2001; December 17, 2001; and March 27, 2002 (reaccessioned on February 3, 2012).

Processing Information

Processed by Paul B. Beck, June 1993

Updates to finding aid and accruals added by Paul B. Beck, May 1994

Updates to finding aid and accruals added by Lisa M. Hendricks, December 1996, March 1997

Updates to finding aid and accruals added by Tony Black, October 1997, November 1997, June 1998, September 1999, February 2000, November 2000, December 2001

Updates to finding aid and accruals added by Matt De Waelsche, August 2000

Multiple finding aids incorporated and additional accessions of multiple series added by Nancy Enneking, May 1999, January 2001, April 2002

Update to accession information by Rebecca Romanchuk, February 2012

Updates to finding aid and DACS compliance by Aditi Worcester, February 2015

Detailed Description of the Records