Rick Pate starts 'Thank a Farmer' initiative

April 12, 2025 – VESTAVIA HILLS – Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate spoke to the Mid-Alabama Republican Club about his new 'Thank a Farmer' initiative.

"We have the most abundant affordable and readily available food supply in the history of human civilization," said Commissioner Pate. "If you wake up and you have plenty of food you have a lot of problems to deal with work and kids. If you wake up and you don't have enough to eat you have one problem: what am I going to eat today?"

"It didn't just show up in the grocery store," said Pate. "Somebody had to grow it or raise it I want people to halfway appreciate it every now and then."

"Domestic agricultural productions is a matter of national security," continued Pate. "If a country can't feed itself then it cannot survive if that flow of foreign food were disrupted. A lot of what Trump is doing with reshoring is due to what we learned about the country during COVID."

"Having all the meat processors in one region of the country is one of those things," said Pate. "We cannot do without food, but if we are dependent on other countries for food then we are vulnerable if that trade were disrupted."

"Agriculture is responsible for one out of every ten jobs in Alabama," Pate continued. "273,000 Alabamians work in agriculture. Half the peanuts produced in the US are within a 100-mile radius of Dothan. Alabama processes 23 million chickens a week. Agriculture and Forestry made $77 billion for Alabama in 2022. There are 23 million acres of timberland in Alabama, which covers 69% of the state."

As Ag Commissioner Pate has started 'Sweet Grown Alabama' which identifies foodstuffs that consumers can purchase that are grown and processed right here in the state of Alabama.

"75 million tons of timber are grown annually in Alabama," said Pate. "It is not Chinese buying farmland, but Canadians and people out of the northwest buying timberland Pate said. "Georgia Pacific in Monroeville is the largest consumer of wood in North America."

According to a survey, "68.4% of Alabama consumers would purchase locally grown products if they were clearly labeled and conveniently available," said Pate. "Forestry has a $30 billion total annual economic impact."

"Today's Farmers produce 262% more food than farmers 50 years ago," said Pate. "From 2016 to 2040 we are going to lose 545,000 acres of farmland in Alabama mostly to urban sprawl."

Pate slammed misinformation from so-called environmentalists.

"Animal agriculture has been targeted by environmentalists while only contributing 10% of U.S.CO2 emissions," Pate said. "The elitists don't want us eating meat anymore."

Pate said that as Ag Commissioner he organized the Alabama to Texas hay relief.

"You hear a lot about California, but Texas had a million and a half acres burned," said Pate. "It burned down fences. It burned cattle up. The Smokehouse Creek Wildfire was the largest recorded in Teas and the second largest fire in the nation's history. It alone was larger than the 20 largest wildfires in California combined."

Texas needed hay to feed their surviving cows so over 500 round bales of hay were sent to Texans from Alabama to help out.

"Alabama offers direct marketing opportunities for farmers including the ability to sell directly to schools," continued Pate.

When he became Ag Commissioner he looked at the school lunch programs in Alabama.

"They weren't buying squat from Alabama farmers," said Pate.

Pate went to the Legislature and asked for some fund to start a program to link Alabama schools with local Alabama farmers.

Since then "1.2 million meals with fresh produce were served to 49 school systems."

The Local Food Procurement Program awarded $11.3 million from USDA in 2022, but expires May 2025.

"We were able to go out and buy food and supply it to local food banks," said Pate.

Locally grown grape tomatoes, satsumas, lettuce, kiwis, cabbage, squash, carrots, watermelons, and more were provided to Alabama food banks through the program.

Phillip Brown is the new Chairman of the Jefferson Republican Party.

Brown said that we have suffered some significant losses in recent elections.

"We are starting a social media campaign this year to set the stage for when campaigning begins next year," said Brown. "A fundraiser is coming up in late August." "The next executive committee meeting is on the 29th of this month in the Homewood Library. We still have some executive committee positions available."

"Jefferson County is the largest county in the state," said Brown. "Because of our recent losses, our base has come to the conclusion that we are going to lose anyway, and they are starting to give up and think that elections don't matter. We are losing at a rate of 3 to 4 points. If we can encourage our base to come out at one and a half to two percent more we can be competitive."

Brown warned that lawlessness and out-of-control crime in Birmingham was a threat to all of Jefferson County.

"If it continues to deteriorate it won't be long before it gets out of Birmingham and into the suburbs," said Brown. "We don't want it in Birmingham much less in the suburbs."

Stephanie Petelos Nabavian is the Chair of the Young Republican Federation of Alabama.

Petelos Nabavian said that the Young Republicans (YRs) are experiencing explosive growth across the state.

"New clubs are starting up," said Petelos Nabavian. "We have got about twelve clubs now. I would not be surprised if that doubled."

Petelos Nabavian invited everyone to their party at the Fish Market Restaurant in downtown Birmingham next month.

"We don't do rubber chicken dinners," said Petelos Nabavian. "We don't do sit down dinners. The food will be fabulous and it will be a buffet. The National Convention will be in Nashville this year so the YRs can go without flying."

The Mid-Alabama Republican Club meets on the second Saturday of each month – usually at the Vestavia Hills Public Library at 8:30 a.m. Donuts and chicken biscuits are usually available for those needing breakfast fare. Janey Whitney is the President of MARC.

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