The race for Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture is likely the least discussed statewide contest at the top of ballots this midterm.
The election pits incumbent Republican Wilton Simpson against Democrat Joey Mendoza Atkins. Simpson served as the Florida Senate President from 2020 until 2022, when he ran for and won the job.
Mendoza Atkins joined The Florida Roundup on Friday to talk about this often overlooked role in the state's government. The Florida Roundup made multiple efforts to book Republican incumbent Wilton Simpson, but never heard back.
" It's one of the races that people might not know very much about, but the Department of Agriculture touches Floridians in so many ways that I think if we really knew how important this role was, I think we'd be paying a lot more attention to it," Mendoza Atkins said.
READ MORE: Proposed private cattle grazing on state lands moves along in first public hearing
He says his campaign is often more about education than party politics.
" Before I even introduce myself, one of the first thing I say is, 'Hey, listen, when you think of the Department of Agriculture, think food, farms, firearms and fraud.' And I think it kind of gets people's imagination thinking, 'Okay, maybe this isn't strictly about farming,' Which is obviously a big part of it, but it's definitely not the whole story," he said.
Legislative priorities
Mendoza Atkins says his first priority is to close the so called "rent-a-cow" loophole. That refers to a loophole in the Greenbelt Law that allows property owners to get tax breaks when the property is used for agricultural purposes.
" It's being totally, totally exploited in a way it was never designed to do... Because what people actually do is that they actually simply put a few cattle on their property and start receiving tax benefits that were never meant to go to them in the first place," he said.
He also highlighted his opposition to AI data centers. While the Commissioner of Agriculture can not single handedly stop the growth of these data centers, he said there are ways to protect certain lands from being developed.
" What we can do is that we can use the power of conservation easements and development rights to make sure that agricultural land is protected and that data centers cannot be built on these lands," he said.
Mendoza Atkins also said that as Commissioner of Agriculture, even if the rest of the administration is Republican, he could have outsized influence as a member of the executive cabinet.
" It's a very small table, with very few chairs that create and make up the executive branch. So there's a lot of power and influence just from a pure advocacy standpoint, just from banging the door down and getting in the ear of the governor and the legislature to promote policies that are good for Floridians," he said.
He would use that power to advocate for a change in immigration enforcement policy, he said. He indicated that many farms in rural areas rely on migrant workers to survive, and ICE raids can strip these community of a stable work force and have negative economic impacts.
" Not only do those workers— who are big contributors to the local economy — not have money to spend on their local economy or within their local economy, it cuts the labor supply that the farmers would have access to," he said. " And what does that do to our food prices? Well, they go up in turn."
Listen above to the Oct. 23, 2026, interview with or find The Florida Roundup wherever you get your podcasts.
