With the statewide election now less than two weeks away and early voting underway, it’s time to look at one of the statewide races we’ve not yet covered—Agriculture Commissioner.
Mike Strain, Republican from Covington, is the incumbent.
“We’ve reorganized the entire department. We promised reform and we have delivered reform,” Strain says.
Initially elected to the post 8 years ago, Strain inherited tremendous debt due to his predecessor Bob Odom’s aggressive (and controversial) construction program. One particular example, the Lacassine sugar mill, was often referred to as “Odom’s folly”.
“You know initially on the Lacassine sugar mill, I had a $45-million note at 11.1% interest,” Strain says. “And now it’s paid off.”
If re-elected, Strain says, “Our goal is to pay off at least 75% of the remaining debt in the next four years. Our goal is to decrease further dependence on the State General Fund, so that this agency is predominately self-funded.”
Strain’s record and future plans for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture don’t sit well with Charlie Greer, a Democrat from Natchitoches who is also seeking the position of Commissioner.
“We can’t stand four more years of the administration that’s there today,” Greer says.
Now retired, Greer worked for the Ag Department for 23 years, and his goal is to return to the “way things used to be.”
“We’ve got to get the manpower built back up,” Greer says. “We’ve got to get the funding back there to make sure that our farmers are taken care of.”
Considering the state’s budget woes, how does is he proposing to get that funding?
“We’re gonna build a coalition with the legislators and bring to them how dire it is that we fund these things that we’re talking about,” Greer says.
Adrian Juttner is the Green Party candidate. The Abita Springs farmer says his platform is simple: “Legalize and tax marijuana, recreationally or for medicinal use.”
Jamie LaBranche, a Republican from LaPlace, is also running for Agriculture Commissioner.
“We have a $30-billion medicinal agriculture program that we want to introduce,” LaBranche says.
It’s not the same as Juttner’s, however. LaBranche says the state needs to look beyond its traditional crops of cotton, rice, soybeans, and sugarcane.
“Sugar cane is paying $650 an acre right now,” LaBranche explains. “Well, foxglove is contracted out at $9000 an acre.”
Foxglove is used for making the heart medicine digitalis.