Ag commish shares state’s success with Rotary Club

CANTON — Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson was in town last week and appeared as a guest speaker at the Canton Rotary Club to talk about the his accomplishments over the last few years. 

Gipson grew up in Rankin County on a farm and has served as Mississippi’s eighth Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce since April 2018 and is a lawyer, minister and former State Representative. He currently lives in Simpson County on his farm.  

Gipson says on his website that agriculture is Mississippi’s number one industry and his main goal is to continue sowing the seeds of opportunity in the areas of workforce development, expansion of trade opportunities, and investment here locally. 

Since taking office in 2018, Gipson has visited each of Mississippi’s 82 counties on a Mississippi Farm Tour, and Madison County is his most recent stop. 

He opened his Rotary speech talking about how great it was being in Canton and how he backed into his position as Commissioner and was even planning on returning to his farm life before receiving a phone call about the position and took the offer when asked to serve. 

“I was down at the Capitol one day and my cell phone rang,” Gipson said. “I walked out the door and answered the phone, and it was Gov. Phil Bryant. He said he had a vacancy to fill and asked if I was interested in serving. He told me he needed an answer by 8 o’clock in the morning.” 

Gipson said he then went home and prayed about it with his wife Leslie and his children, and ended up taking the job. Five years later, he still loves serving as Commissioner. 

“Agriculture is the backbone of Mississippi,” he said. “It is the backbone of America and the world. Less people are farming today than ever in the history of our country. The statistics are shocking. In the 1940s, about 60 percent of Americans were either living on a farm or living in a town operating a farm.” 

He said that today, in 2023, only 1.7 percent of America’s population is engaged in farming at all. 

“But despite that drop, the farmers here are doing such a good job feeding our state and country with so few people. We’re doing more with less and I’m very proud of what our farmers are doing.”

Gipson recalled his time as Commissioner during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything non-essential shut down. 

He said despite everything shutting down, farmers continued to work and kept putting seeds in the ground.  

“I can tell you with certainty, the Department of Agriculture never shut down, and our people were out there every single day,” Gipson said. “Because our farmers didn’t quit, we were able to keep eating. More people were at home, and they were putting seed in the ground.” 

After the pandemic restrictions began to lift, demand returned, and a new crisis began: a worker shortage. Gipson said despite the shortage, the Mississippi farm gate value rose to $8 billion in 2021 and to $9.7 billion in 2022. 

Next month Gipson plans to travel to the Netherlands to sell food due to the increasing difficulty to farm in Europe. He said he wants people to understand food comes from a farm, not a grocery store. 

“If you keep doing the work, and keep tending the crop, at the end of the day the harvest will be great, and it’s only after you serve,” Gipson said. “And my job as your Commissioner is to keep planting the good seeds of opportunity for Mississippi.” 

Gipson currently resides with his wife Leslie and his children, Joseph, Benjamin, Abigail, and Sarah, on their small working farm in Simpson County.