Department of Agriculture Requests $16M IT Budget for 2026-27

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has requested a $16 million budget for information resources in its fiscal year 2026-27 legislative appropriations request (LAR).

According to the request, the agency requires $11.1 million for indirect administration, $5.1 million for IT capital budget items and $3.3 million for IT exceptional items.

IT exceptional items in the request include:

• $1.6 million for cybersecurity resources
• $900,000 for a rewrite of the agency’s website
• $308,000 for the statewide biosecurity enforcement/road station program
• $165,000 for an IT service management tool replacement
• $7,000 for computer equipment and software

The agency’s IT capital budget request is approximately $5 million less than TDA was granted for equivalent items in the General Appropriations Bill (HB 1) for FY 24-25.

The following information resource items are included in the capital budget request:

• $2.3 million for data center consolidation
• $2 million for legacy modernization
• $762,500 for information resource technology acquisitions

TDA CIO Chris Bunton will headline an Industry Insider — Texas member briefing in December.