St. Tammany bureau

 

State Rep. Mike Strain on Thursday announced his candidacy for state commissioner of agriculture in the Oct. 20 election, saying it’s time to overhaul the agency that oversees a $9 billion per year industry.

 

“I am running to provide new leadership, new reforms and innovative ideas to the Department of Agriculture,” said Strain, R-Covington. “Just about every agricultural commodity in our state has shrunk over the last six years, but the bureaucracy of the Department of Agriculture continues to grow. It’s time the department served the taxpayers and farming community and not the other way around.”

 

Strain, standing next to a John Deere tractor outside the veterinary hospital he owns near Covington, said the department has 798 positions, 26 offices and an annual budget approaching $100 million.

 

“This is a huge department, regulating everything from milk to gasoline, from pesticides to crawfish tails, from termites to pine seedlings,” Strain said. “It’s time this office begins to work for the people.” Without mentioning longtime commissioner Bob Odom, Strain told a group of supporters that “my experience, education and upbringing has prepared me for this important challenge and with your help, we will reform the Department of Agriculture and we will change the way Louisiana does business.”

 

Odom, commissioner since 1979, is facing state charges alleging that he and others conspired to rig state food storage contracts in exchange for campaign cash and personal gifts. Odom is scheduled for trial on the felony charges Monday in Baton Rouge.

 

Strain’s family has been involved in cattle and timber farming for generations. The veterinarian has represented the 74th House District, which takes in parts of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes, since 2000.