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Tennessee Agriculture Seeks Wildfire Resiliency Team, Bolsters Rural Programs
Summary
Department of Agriculture Commissioner Andy Holt asked the House Finance Committee for $1.318 million and nine permanent positions to create a wildfire-resiliency team, and outlined continued investment in dental access, ARPA projects and a $500,000 grant request for the Cultivate reentry program.
Commissioner Andy Holt told the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee that the Tennessee Department of Agriculture is asking for a $1.318 million, nine‑position wildfire‑resiliency team to focus on prevention, initial suppression and community liaison work.
Holt, testifying Feb. 26, said the department is seeing growing wildfire risk: “Right now ... we're in the 90th percentile of risk for communities around the country,” and explained the proposed team would work with "approximately 1,000 fire departments and 90 emergency management agencies" to help train structural firefighters on wildland size‑up and initial tactics, and to help communities apply for resilience grants.
State Forester Heather Sllayton said the new team would have three primary missions: train structural firefighters on wildfire response and safety, work with communities on wildfire‑resilience measures and grant access, and integrate into the Division of Forestry’s Type‑3 incident management system to support all‑hazards responses.
Holt also detailed a slate of other requests and programs tied to the 2026–27 budget. The department is asking to sustain nine consumer‑services inspector positions (previously funded through a sunsetted aggregator fund) and is seeking $500,000 to support Cultivate, a 10‑year reentry program led by Joey Langford that trains people exiting the justice system in agricultural skills.
On capital projects, Holt highlighted a Pinson seedling cooler to support a million‑seedling distribution hub and a $6 million study for the Porter & Ivy laboratory replacement to plan a 10‑year laboratory strategy. He said Tennesseans have already benefited from $124.8 million in ARPA allocations to agriculture, including farm‑to‑food‑bank procurement and workforce training with the University of Tennessee.
Committee members pressed for details on the wildfire fund and operations. Deputy Commissioner Samantha Batty said an $8.2 million wildfire suppression appropriation exists but is held as a miscellaneous appropriation separate from TDA reserves and that reimbursements from federal partners have at times been slow.
Several lawmakers urged the department to continue expanding enterprise‑fund and value‑added projects for row‑crop producers amid significant crop losses, and to track workforce outcomes as dental and other training programs scale up.
The department closed by noting USDA had awarded $38 million to help mitigate an estimated $1.35 billion in agricultural losses tied to Hurricane Helen, and said it will continue reporting back to the committee on program milestones and rulemaking for the $25 million farmland‑preservation effort.
What happens next: The committee will weigh TDA’s budget requests during its overall review. The wildfire resiliency team and the Cultivate grant are included as distinct cost increases the committee can approve, reduce or redirect.
