Below is more information about the agency, including who leads it, how many staff the department employs and what it does.
FAST FACTS
Budget: $2,998,918,301 total, with an estimated $20,163,493 IT budget for FY2024, according to Gov. DeSantis’ Focus on Florida’s Future Budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Leadership: Eric Brown is the agency’s chief information officer.
Staff: The agency has 3,710 employees, according to budget documents.
MORE ABOUT THE AGENCY
In 1871, the state’s constitution was amended to consolidate the offices of surveyor general and commissioner of immigration into the commissioner of lands and immigration. Soon after, in 1885, the commissioner of lands and immigration was renamed the commissioner of agriculture. In 1969, the state’s Legislature reorganized the department and renamed it the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to include its new responsibilities.
Since then, the department has focused on “supporting and promoting Florida agriculture, the environment, consumers and ensuring the safety and quality of food.”
A few ways the agency achieves this is by protecting Florida’s livestock, honeybees and crop plants from pests and diseases; helping farmers implement best management practices to conserve water and prevent water pollution; assisting businesses and residents in the safe and proper use of pesticides; and managing over a million acres of state forest land for multiple uses, including timber, wildlife habitat and recreation.
But how does tech come into play?
According to the governor’s budget recommendations, the agency could receive the following funding for IT for fiscal year 2024-2025:
- $6,403,658 for contracted services
- $4,562,000 for information technology operations
- $1,736,364 for department cloud services
- $1,467,480 for Florida Planning, Accounting and Ledger Management (PALM) readiness
- $1,208,703 for the agency’s regulatory life cycle management system
