Texas agriculture commissioner candidates in Republican primary March 1

Occupation: Rancher, Forestry, Author

Age: 57

Campaign website: https://jameswhitefortexas.com/

Best way for voters to reach you: info@JamesWhiteForTexas.com

Education: B.A. - Political Science; Prairie View A&M University, 1986; M.Ed - Education Administration; Prairie View A&M University, 2000 Ph. D. Political Science; University of Houston, 2012

Have you run for or held elected office before? Harris County Precicnt Chair 1994-2005Tyler County Precinct Chair 2006-2010

Please list highlights of your civic involvement (for example, service on boards/commissions or leadership positions held): *

Lions Club, Rotary Club, VFW

Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding? If yes, please explain. No

Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding? If yes, please explain. No

Who are your top three campaign contributors? Texans for Lawsuit ReformRichard WeekleyAlabama Coushatta of Texas

Why are you seeking this office? I love Texas and and my fellow Texans, farmers and ranchers, in particular who wake up every morning and work hard daily to grow our local prosperity and ensure our freedom. Texans deserve a Commissioner of Agriculture who they can trust to protect our food production and supply from narco-transnational gangs; secure our meat processing industry from hostile foreign cybersecurity threats; secure our prime agricultural land and resources from foreign hostile ownership, secure our property and water rights from harmful federal laws and regulations, secure career opportunities for our young Texas and Veterans in agriculture, and secure the economic prosperity of Texas entrepreneurs, farmers and ranchers by reducing excessively high state fees and burdensome regulations.

What qualities make for a good Agriculture Commissioner and how do you embody them? As a small beef cattle producer, Military Veteran, and a 6-term legislator, I am a proven-conservative. I have served on the House Agriculture Committee which oversights the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). I have served on the House Committee on Corrections, which oversights the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and its large statewide agribusiness operations. I have passed legislation reducing burdensome regulations on timber loggers and small commercial meat processors. As Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee Chairman, I ensured the passage of constitutional carry and stopped defund the police proposals. I facilitated a threefold border security funding increase. I passed legislation that upgraded our 911 emergency communications system to the 21st century. I have passed legislation strengthening ethics and transparency in our criminal justice system and this sets the tempo for me as the next Agriculture Commissioner to do the same at the TDA.

What would be your top 3 priorities as agriculture commissioner? Restore ethics transparency, trust among the leadership and operations of the Texas Department of Agriculture and collaborate and coordinate on emergency responses to every emergency contingency involved with securing Texas agriculture and rural Texas..Securing our border, food supply, property and water rights, Texas agriculture prosperity and our future by improving the taste and nutritional quality of the food served to eligible youth for the National School Lunch Program and encouraging more of our Military Veterans returning to civilian life to consider a career in Texas agriculture. Securing Texas prosperity: developing a GO TEXAN program that champions native cultivated/raised/created products/services and an international marketing program that is producer-driven, data-driven and metric-based

How would you assess the state’s Industrial Hemp Program? Should farmers be allowed to grow marijuana in the state? Because the current Commissioner has fostered a climate that has facilitated his three-decade long campaign consultant to bribe, swindle, and victimize aspiring hemp farmers over the last two years, my first order of business is to regain the trust of all agricultural producers. I co-authored the legislation legalizing industrial hemp in order to provide Texas farmers more opportunities to grow their prosperity. We must continue refining this legislation in order to have a certain and less burdensome regulatory environment. Texas is synonymous with economic liberty and opportunity. Our Texas farmers should have the opportunity to compete and pursue prosperity. In particular, we should allow Texas farmers to provide therapeutics that patients and physicians demand to maintain life and enhance the quality of life.

Is there anything the state can do to address increased meat prices being seen by consumers? Absolutely! 1. Ensure that there are no burdensome state regulations or fees that negatively add to the cost of meat production and processing or limit producers and processors from adequately supplying meat

2. Foster more competition by working with meat producer groups to facilitate more small/regional meat processors

3. Champion native-raised/processed Texas meat with the GO-TEXAN program

4. Ensure that Texas is developing the infrastructure for our supply chains to get our mest products to market

5. Continue working with our congressional delegation to get the federal government to provide regulatory and tax relief to Texas meat producers

Is there anything the state can do to address increased meat prices being seen by consumers? Absolutely!

1. Ensure that there are no burdensome state regulations or fees that negatively add to the cost of meat production and processing or limit producers and processors from adequately supplying meat

2. Foster more competition by working with meat producer groups to facilitate more small/regional meat processors 3. Champion native-raised/processed Texas meat with the GO-TEXAN program

4. Ensure that Texas is developing the infrastructure for our supply chains to get our mest products to market 5. Continue working with our congressional delegation to get the federal government to provide regulatory and tax relief to Texas meat producers

One of the Department of Agriculture’s jobs is to administer the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs school children and promote healthy living. How would you approach these tasks as Ag commissioner? The federal National School Lunch Program is the largest responsibly of the Texas Department of Agriculture. The federal funds used to implement this program account for at least 92 percent of the revenue funding for the Department. Identify all rules, regulations, and statutes, federal and state, that inhibit food service providers in our child care centers and local public and charter school campuses from providing meals under the National School Lunch Program that are delicious, healthy, and promote the very best from Texas agriculture. Them map out a strategy to either eliminate or decrease the regulatory impact of the burdensome rules, regulations, and statutes.