Putnam for agriculture post

The commissioner of agriculture and consumer services is one of the most important elected offices in Florida. The commissioner wields considerable influence over the agriculture industry and environmental initiatives and is one of four statewide elected officials who sit as the Florida Cabinet.

Yet many people are unaware of the responsibilities of the office. Besides promoting and protecting agriculture, the department's employees bust unscrupulous mechanics, conduct controlled burns to minimize the threat of forest fires, inspect food markets and, when necessary, halt the sale of dangerous products. They certify weights and measures and validate gasoline pumps.

The most appealing candidate this year, in experience and outlook, is Adam Putnam of Bartow, a Republican who has represented District 12 in the U.S. House of Representatives for the last decade.

Putnam has the solid backing of the agriculture industry, and he also has the support of many thousands of "4-H friends." Agriculture, a $100 billion industry here, is changing, and Putnam says there is a new generation of farmers and ranchers backing his candidacy. He believes the agriculture office should be kept in the hands of someone "whose roots are in the land," and we agree.

Putnam would work to preserve the industry, but we believe he would also be an environmental steward. With his family, the fifth-generation Floridian owns ranch land and orange groves. He is as comfortable in the woods as he is in the House well in Washington.

Putnam faces a bright candidate in Scott Maddox, a former mayor of Tallahassee and former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. Maddox knows something about agriculture. He was raised in a farming community and his wife's family is in agriculture, but he makes clear his emphasis would be on the consumer side of things. This is an important responsibility, but the office is foremost about agriculture, which brings environmental, aesthetic and economic benefits to the state.

Putnam is full of ideas about how to help the industry and serve the public.

He wants the opportunity to put his imprint on the state's carbon, water and renewable energy policies. He points out some 800,000 people work in agriculture. "Homegrown food really is homegrown jobs," he said.

A top priority would be to move the school lunch program from the education department to the agriculture department, as has been done in New Jersey and Texas. And he would modernize the department technologically.

He points out the agriculture commissioner manages more than 1 million acres of public lands through the division of forestry, and he would see that all land-management agencies work together on a joint marketing campaign to get kids out of their homes to reconnect with the land. He envisions marketing new canoe trails and hosting wounded warriors on hunts.

Putnam says there are social benefits to agriculture land remaining in agriculture, so the state should have an interest in helping farmers develop new revenue streams. For instance, he would offer incentives to landowners to participate in water storage.

Food safety, he says, would be his major emphasis, and he is well versed in consumer protections, whether talking about inspecting fair rides and auto dealerships or dealing with sweepstakes and pests at home.

We must think anew, Putnam says, about just what agriculture is: "Always food, fiber, forage" but also energy development and water protection.

With Putnam the state will have a dynamic, knowledgeable leader who knows how to handle the complexity of this key office. For Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, The Tampa Tribune offers its enthusiastic support to Adam Putnam.

Candidates not endorsed by the Tribune are invited by the editorial board to write rebuttals, which should be limited to 200 words. E-mail replies to tribletters@tampatrib.com or write to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 191, Tampa, 33601-0191.