Department of Agriculture outlines budget priorities: wildfire resiliency, ARPA farm programs and farmland preservation fund

Andy Holt, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, briefed the committee on the department's budget request and several program priorities for FY26–27. He described three specific cost increases — including a wildfire resiliency team budgeted at $1,300,000 — and capital project asks such as a Pinson seedling cooler replacement (more than $1,000,000) and a $6,000,000 design study for the Porter and Ivy laboratory. "We have folks here that can give lots and lots of details... Our wildfire resiliency team, they're with a total cost of 1,300,000," Holt told members.

Holt also detailed American Rescue Plan Act spending: "We have 21,100,000 that's currently been expended out of a total of 50,000,000," he said, describing rounds of farm and forestry grants and a Farm-to-Food Banks program that has purchased local food and distributed meals. Holt announced a $25,000,000 farmland preservation fund with rules finalized and an expected late-summer launch. During questioning, Samantha Wilson clarified that roughly $29,600,000 in Agriculture Enterprise Fund allocations remain committed in multi-year contract windows and therefore are not freely available for reallocation.