# Agriculture Commissioner — Tyler Harper — The GA Files > Tyler Harper, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner — campaign finance (live from GA Ethics), where they stand, and any scandals. *Source: https://thegafiles.com/officeholders/agriculture.html · The GA Files (thegafiles.com)* --- [← Statewide Officeholders](https://thegafiles.com/officeholders.html) # Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper Republican Elected in 2022. Running for re-election in 2026. Agriculture commissioner since 2023, after two terms in the state Senate representing south-central Georgia. A seventh-generation farmer from Ocilla, he runs the department overseeing food safety, fuel and produce inspections, and the state's largest industry. Has leaned into farm-disaster relief after Hurricane Helene devastated South Georgia crops. #### Office & background - Agriculture Commissioner (2023–present) - Georgia State Senate (2013–2022) #### Campaign finance — who funds them **$554,761** raised · **$421,192** cash on hand (Harper for Georgia, Inc.) - $21,600 — Goggans, Chase (Temple, GA) - $9,000 — Heagan Farms (Manor, GA) - $8,400 — Three Pines Leasing LLC (Ocilla, GA) - $8,400 — Harper, D W (Ocilla, GA) - $8,400 — Harper, Elecia (Ocilla, GA) - $8,400 — Bad Ash Motors LLC (Ocilla, GA) Finance as of **May 18, 2026** — latest GA Ethics filing (Two Business Day Report). Source: [Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission (PeachFile)](https://peachfile.ethics.ga.gov) #### Where they stand Disaster relief & Helene recovery Makes Hurricane Helene recovery a signature accomplishment — he pressed Congress for aid and stood up the Georgia Hurricane Helene Block Grant, a roughly $531 million relief program covering timber, poultry, cattle, pecans, blueberries and more, with applications opening in March 2026. Source: [Action News Jax — $531M Helene relief program](https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/georgia-agriculture-commissioner-announces-531m-hurricane-helene-relief-program/BBD76VLGJJD5LDVXDP6SXP6DC4/) · [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) Farmer support & farm costs Runs on his identity as a working farmer and former legislator, touting wins for producers and casting himself as a fighter for Georgia agriculture in Washington and at the Capitol. Source: [Statesboro Herald — Harper on farmer & senator experience](https://www.statesboroherald.com/local/tyler-harper-campaigns-ag-commissioner-experience-farmer-and-state-senator/) · [Tyler Harper — campaign bio](https://tylerharperga.com/about/) Local & fresh food access Promotes Georgia-grown products and farm-to-market programs as economic development, framing local food largely through growing the state's agriculture economy rather than as a food-access equity agenda. Source: [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) · [Tyler Harper — campaign bio](https://tylerharperga.com/about/) Food safety & inspections Restored the Department of Agriculture's status as a certified law-enforcement agency and emphasizes inspection and consumer-protection enforcement as core to the office's mission. Source: [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) · [Wikipedia — Tyler Harper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Harper) Consumer protection at the pump Leans on the Department's weights-and-measures and fuel-quality enforcement — gas-pump accuracy, scales, and product labeling — as a routine consumer-protection function he highlights. Source: [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) · [Wikipedia — Tyler Harper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Harper) Hemp & consumable cannabis A primary sponsor of Georgia's 2019 Hemp Farming Act as a senator, he now backs “commonsense” guardrails on consumable hemp — banning sales to anyone under 21, requiring lab testing, and mandating accurate labeling to reflect contents. Source: [GDA — Harper statement on consumable hemp legislation](https://agr.georgia.gov/pr/commissioner-tyler-harper-issues-statement-support-consumable-hemp-product-legislation) · [Wikipedia — Tyler Harper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Harper) Water & farmland conservation Established the Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund to help keep working farms intact and worked on water rights and private-property rights as a legislator — pitching conservation as protecting agriculture's land and water base. Source: [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) · [Wikipedia — Tyler Harper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Harper) Foreign farmland ownership Has made it a centerpiece to bar “adversarial foreign nations” like China from buying Georgia farmland, casting it as protecting the food supply and national security — and pairing it with his America First agriculture-council role. Source: [GDA — Commissioner Tyler Harper](https://agr.georgia.gov/Commissioner-Tyler-Harper) · [GDA — Harper named to AFPI America First Ag council](https://agr.ga.gov/pr/icymi-georgia-agriculture-commissioner-tyler-harper-named-afpis-america-first-agriculture) #### PPP loan Forgiven **$20,832** — Tyler Harper — beef-cattle farm (sole proprietorship) (Ocilla, GA), February 2021. The Agriculture Commissioner's beef-cattle operation took a PPP loan as a sole proprietorship; SBA records show it was forgiven in September 2021. Sources - [FederalPay — SBA PPP data](https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/dw-harper-ocilla-ga) - [ProPublica — Tracking PPP](https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/) #### More - [Georgia Department of Agriculture](https://agr.georgia.gov/) [⬇ Share image](https://thegafiles.com/share/officeholders/agriculture.png) Finance figures are pulled live from the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission (PeachFile) and are current to each officeholder's most recent filed disclosure report. Policy summaries reflect stated positions and signed records, with sources; scandals are labeled by disposition. Last updated 2026-06-28.