GENEVA — In a Monday speech to the Republican Women of Geneva County, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate discussed food security, tariffs and his political future.
Pate was first elected Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries in 2018 and was re-elected unopposed in 2022.
"95% of what we do is regulatory in nature," said Pate. "95% of people want to do right, but you do have that three to 5% that don't want to."
COVID-19 taught Americans that "food security is national security," said Pate.
He added that despite inflation, the average American spends around "11% of total income" on food, "the lowest in the history of mankind."
In 2019, Pate helped launch sweetgrownalabama.org to connect Alabamians with local farmers and promote state-grown food.
"We know the stuff that you buy at a local farmer's market was picked that morning…or picked the day before," said Pate. "…The average stuff you buy at the grocery store was picked 17 to 18 days ago… What we're growing locally will taste better, be better for you, and be more nourishing; it's going to help your local farmer and your local economies."
Pate praised President Donald Trump's tariffs and observed, "We produce a lot more agriculture than we can consume here… The rest of the world needs us… If China doesn't buy soybeans from us, are there enough other soybeans to meet the needs they've got?"
Pate called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "a terrible deal" and emphasized, "We had textiles all over this state… We were adding value to stuff. [Today] we ship raw cotton out of this country, we're seeing it with wholesale corn, wholesale soybeans, wholesale wheat."
According to Pate, America ships out up to 85% of its cotton wholesale and "buys almost that exact same amount back from Vietnam and China" in the form of retail goods.
While cattle farmers are benefiting from high prices, Pate said he is most worried about row crop farmers who grow crops such as cotton, corn, soybeans and peanuts.
"You start losing them…we have a crisis in this country," he warned.
Regarding 2026, Pate, who is term-limited, revealed, "I actually talked to [Tommy] Tuberville on Saturday… I told Wes [Allen] and told him I wouldn't run against him. And I told Wes, if Tuberville did run, I'd probably run for lieutenant governor."
Multiple statewide offices are open in 2026, including for governor, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner, attorney general and potentially U.S. Senate.
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