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Georgia agriculture commissioner briefs House committee on avian influenza response, hemp licensing and law-enforcement actions
Summary
Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture summarized the department’s emergency response to recent avian influenza detections in commercial poultry, progress on hemp licensing and several law-enforcement investigations, and asked lawmakers for additional resources for outbreak response and program administration.
At a hearing of the Georgia House Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, the state’s commissioner of agriculture, Tyler, gave an overview of recent department activity, emphasizing the emergency response to avian influenza (AI), ongoing hemp licensing work and several recent law-enforcement cases.
The update matters because the commissioner said poultry represents “a little over a third of our state agricultural economy,” and the department moved quickly after learning of an AI detection in a commercial flock. “We immediately activated our emergency operations center,” Tyler told the committee, and staff were on-site within 12 hours. The department established a control area of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers), tested more than 100 farms in that control area within 24 hours, and began depopulation and quarantine measures to limit spread.
Tyler said the response involved more than 150 people at times and remains ongoing, with cleaning and disinfection of affected locations continuing. He asked legislators to support additional budget requests for resources the department identified while responding to the AI event.
The commissioner also reviewed other recent department work: the agency issued more than 85,000 licenses last year across a broad set of programs, and its budget is funded mostly by the state (about 80%) with federal funds supplying roughly 20%. He said the department has elevated farmers markets to a standalone division and is preparing a master plan for the Atlanta market and produce terminal, and noted an upcoming Georgia Grown store on Jekyll Island in partnership with the Jekyll Island Authority.
On disaster response and recovery, Tyler said Hurricane Helene caused an estimated $5.5 billion in statewide damage and that about 50 department employees were deployed over three weeks to support recovery work. The department set up a loan program called Safety 24 and identified $100 million for loans, including $25 million for forestry and $75 million for agricultural loans; Tyler said most of the $75 million in ag loans is already committed and the department has seen more than $121 million in requests through the development authority.
On hemp, Tyler said Senate Bill 494 established a regulatory framework that took effect in October. The department’s licensing portal received almost 11,000 license applications; about 5,000 licenses have been issued, roughly 5,000 applications remain in iterative review, and about 700 remain queued. He said inspections and site enforcement have begun and that the department has destroyed product on-site when it violated rules.
Tyler described expanding the department’s law-enforcement capacity and cited several recent investigations his staff helped lead or support: a puppy-mill investigation in Pierce County (36 dogs seized, case ongoing), a multimillion-dollar indoor marijuana grow seizure (about $22 million worth seized), a horse-theft ring investigated with Arkansas that led to recovery of animals and coordination with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, and a drug seizure of nearly 2,600 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a celery shipment at the Atlanta State Farmers Market. He also reported a recent break-in and theft of hemp and CBD oil at an in‑state facility and said three suspects are being pursued, with one arrested in Texas.
Tyler said the department is asking for additional resources tied to emergency responses such as AI, and highlighted other programs including a feral-hog task force, plant protection work (noting eradication efforts against the yellow-legged hornet), and pilot projects for farmland conservation. He said the department has been building an electric-vehicle charging test rig in partnership with Georgia Tech and is testing chargers and monitoring methods.
The commissioner repeatedly sought committee support for budget requests and closed by offering to take questions from committee members.
Ending: Committee members thanked the commissioner; no committee action or vote was taken during the presentation.
