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Incoming Ag Commissioner has new ideas for the department

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After a couple of tries, Monongalia County farmer Kent Leonhardt will finally get to raise his right hand and take the oath of office Monday as the West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture. Leonhardt, who currently serves in the State Senate, is ready to hit the ground running.

Speaking last week on MetroNews Talkline, Leonhardt said job number one will be to interview the current staff and make certain they have the right people in the right jobs. Leonhardt didn’t anticpate adding any staff, but three he knew of have already announced they are leaving and he had people in mind to replace them. The budget is expected to be a dicey subject in all areas of state government this year, but Leonhardt indicated while there may be some places to cut in the department budget, a lot are mandates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and cutting those areas like meat and poultry inspection may not be possible.

Once settled into office, Leonhardt likes the idea of retooling the West Virginia Division of Forestry and making it a program of the Agriculture Department instead of its current home under the Department of Commerce.

“It was put under Commerce a long time ago because of the marketing aspect of it, but the Department of Agriculture has a Constitutional requirement to help market West Virginia agricultural products,” he said. “Trees are a crop, they grow a little longer than the traditional crops, but it is a crop.”

The Division of Forestry took a major hit when budget cuts were made last year and 34 foresters were laid off. Many of those lost were in charge of regulation enforcement. Leonhardt said getting them back on the job is critical.

“We have to bring some of those regulators back to make sure the forestry standards are being practiced properly for the health of our forests, the health of our streams and the health of the citizens of West Virginia,” Leonhardt said.

Another controversial matter which Leonhardt will face is the growing advocacy for the legalization, marketing, and production of marijuana. He said he knows there is a market for industrial hemp from pot farms, but he was skeptical about other aspects of the trade.

“I’m not in favor of going straight into the legalization of recreational marijuana,” he said. “I’m more willing to listen to the medicinal side first.”

Leonhardt said he’s hearing about an increased number of auto accidents and increased cost to health care in places like Colorado and other states where pot has been legalized. Although most of what he has heard is anecdotal evidence, he fears there isn’t enough data from the experiments in those states with legal marijuana to make a determination if it’s right for West Virginia.





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