The Extra Mile Podcast: Legislative Session
Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson

(Paul) Welcome into another edition of The Extra Mile Podcast: Legislative Session, presented by The Mississippi Department of Transportation. I’m MDOT Deputy Director of Public Affairs Paul Katool. And as always, I’m joined by my co-host Will Craft. He handles government and constituent affairs here at the agency. It’s a busy time of the year for Will.

(Will) Indeed.

(Paul) Let’s, uh, let’s get right into it. We’re recording this podcast on January 31st. So, we’re already a third of the way through the 2023 legislative session. Uh, today, we’re lucky to have a repeat guest on the show and a huge friend of MDOT, Mississippi’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson.

Mr. Gipson took office in April of 2018, and he serves as Mississippi’s 8th Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. He also served 10 years in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Commissioner Gipson, thank you so much for joining us again.

(Andy Gipson) Well, Paul, thank you for having me. It’s always great to be here, and actually I’ve enjoyed y’all’s podcast - listening to y’all’s podcast - or both. Somehow you find a way to keep them interesting. And I appreciate the talking about the legislative session is hard to do when there’s so many moving parts and y’all do a great job with this.

(Paul) That means a lot. It really does.

(Will) I very much appreciate that.

(Andy Gipson) Yeah.

(Will) Well, welcome back. We’re glad to have you on again. Um, do you miss it? Do you miss being in the legislature this time of year?

(Andy Gipson) Not a bit. I’m so glad. That was one of the happiest days of my life when I walked out of that House of Representatives.

(Paul) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) But the good news is I get to be involved as much or as little as I want to be or have to be. And I was down there about three times last week working on some good stuff and with our friends, and I enjoy that part. And so, I guess I shouldn’t say the happiest day of my life. But I will say this: there comes a time in the legislature when you know it’s time to go, and that time had come for me. I enjoyed my service there. I enjoyed working with the people. So many of them are still there my friends. But, uh, you know it was time to turn a chapter, and I’m glad to be the Commissioner of Agriculture of Mississippi and still involved in the legislative process.

(Will) That’s right.

(Paul) Absolutely.

(Will) No. You’re not in the Capitol anymore, but you didn’t pack everything up and go to the house. You guys are wide open.

(Andy Gipson) We are.

(Will) Dixie National going on.

(Andy Gipson) We have the Dixie National, and you’d be surprised how many folks are coming out for this. I, uh, I looked at the report the other day. We track it about two months out. Let’s compare where we are this time this year compared to this time last year. And we are, you know, considerably ahead. Last year we set an all-time record for the Dixie National in terms of tickets sold, and this year we’re about 40% of that.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) I mean, it’s huge. And all I can attribute it to - I wish I could take the credit - but I’m gonna attribute it to the Yellowstone effect, alright?

(Will) Okay.

(Andy Gipson) People love “Yellowstone.”

(Will) That’s true.

(Andy Gipson) Now, I’ve been to the real Yellowstone a bunch of times. Took my family out there on a road trip camping. But this TV show has taken it to a new level. We got Lainey Wilson coming to the rodeo. She sold out in December.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) And so, we had to do another round of floor tickets just for her. And I think just the great interest of the of the people of Mississippi and all over America: the the old-time way of the pioneer days and the western lifestyle. And, you know, we’re still country people here in Mississippi. And that’s something we can never forget.

(Will) That’s right. Proud of it.

(Andy Gipson) Proud of it.

(Paul) Very proud.

(Andy Gipson) Yeah.

(Will) What are some things going on with the Dixie National right now? What’s, uh, what’s the hot ticket item folks come out and see? I know you got plenty of great guests music lined up.
(Andy Gipson) Oh, yeah. Well, I’ll, let’s just start with them because that is our entertainment lineup is – is, uh, starting out the the event with Randy Houser, who is, of course, a native Mississippian. We’ve got Lainey Wilson. We’ve got Chancey Williams, who’s one of the up-and-comers. We have got, uh, of course, we have got Chris Lane. And, I’m going off of my memory now, a couple of throwbacks - Diamond Rio. Now they’re going to be there as well.

So, it’s something for everybody. And we’ve got a great lineup. It kicks off February 10th, and then it’ll go that’s a Friday, Saturday, Sunday – February 10th-12th. Take a break Monday and Tuesday. They’ll be riding slack those days, and competing in the rodeo Monday and Tuesday. And then the rodeo performances kick up the 15th all the way through the 18th. So, February 10-18. And don’t wait around - get your tickets now. I tell people all the time don’t wait. Don’t call me and complain. If you wait too long, they’ll be gone.

(Will) Yep. That’s right.

(Paul) Don’t delay. Don’t delay. So, so, listen, you’re known as very hands-on, uh, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. You get things done. The new trademark. So, talk about, first of all, to people who don’t know what that is, and what the finishing of that project has meant.

(Andy Gipson) Well, it is, uh, really no way to put a, too great an emphasis on, what the new trademart has meant to the state fairgrounds. I gave a legislative report in our budget hearing the other day. We have seen events numbers of events at the fairgrounds grow exponentially since the completion of that new trademart.

Most people in Mississippi may not have been. A lot more have been this year than in prior years - the pandemic years. But, uh, we started that project after Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith took office and went to the United States Senate. We took up mantle and began building it in 2018. We completed it during the pandemic in 2020 about - I think we actually opened it up in October right before the state fair of 2020.

And, uh, the couple of years there people didn’t know about it. But as more and more people have come and seen the new trademart - it is connected to the coliseum. So, you have 16,000 square foot, three different bays, much larger facility than we had in our old trademart. But its being combined under one roof with the coliseum. We’ve had events booked here to the, to the, uh, you know, to beat, the band, to the point we have exceeded our average number of event days.

And “event day” is the day that one of our buildings is rented on the fairgrounds. Normally, we always would shoot for about 500 event days. You can have a couple of buildings.

(Will) Wow.

(Andy Gipson) Yeah. That was in normal times. Pandemic hit. Boom. Everything died. We have built it back, and this year we’re going to hit 765 event days. Big driven primarily by the rental of that trademart building. So, more events, more people, more spectators and trade shows and all that. The trademart is a world-class facility. It is really, really nice, and when the people of Mississippi see it, they see it - they want to come back.

I had a lot of people during the fairs who came this year for the first time said they’d never been there. One lady came up looking for the trademart - the old one - and she was mad because it was gone. I said, “Yes, ma’am. It was tore down in 2020. I’m sorry, but here’s a brand new one.” And she liked that. We’re putting - we put - it’s a great café in the back, alright? I love this. Y’all like to eat?

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(Paul) Oh, yes.

(Andy Gipson) Commissioner of Agriculture likes to eat. And, uh, everybody in the world likes to eat. We got to eat to support our farmers, to support our bodies. And we built a Dixie National Steakhouse in that café. We’re building that. It will open February 3.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) Yeah. We’re going to be up and running this February 3rd. It’ll run throughout the entirety of the Dixie National through February 18. So, you can come to the new trademart, in the new café, and get you a good juicy steak. “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.”

(Will) That’s pretty good.

(Paul) That’s right.

(Wil) Go over to the trademart some different event of - for the rodeo, and go get a steak dinner while you’re there.

(Andy Gipson) That’s right. It worked out good. We did it last year. People came for the rodeo. They come early, and get a steak. We also have chicken tenders and all that for the kids and hamburgers. But, uh, you know, that’s a great way to, no pun intended, get a taste of the Mississippi trademart, the new trademart. You can check it out while you’re there.

(Will) That’s exactly right.

(Paul) Yeah.

(Will) Absolutely. Switching gears a little bit: You talked about your time in the House a little bit and all the work you did there. We know you don’t miss it. You love what you’re doing. But you guys have some important legislation that you’re working on this year?

(Andy Gipson) We, you know, we’ve got a couple of little items that are technical amendments like your office has. We were talking earlier. There are always things that change in the law that we have to update - our laws that have been on the books to adjust to. Well, we, uh, our law enforcement agency - the Mississippi Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau - we have a few agents around the state.
Chief Dean Bernard, he’s a 30-year veteran of the Department of Public Safety. He's our chief, and he brought some updates to us to help us do our job more efficiently. We get to investigate all agriculture-related crimes. And sometimes, you know, uh, that we get involved with cases that really go beyond what we thought they would be. The other day, we found a piece of stolen equipment, and it wound up to be a ring of thieves up in the Delta. And I think we found 20 or 30 pieces of equipment and cars, automobiles, trucks that had been stolen. Found them all.

And we also have the ability to partner across state lines. So, we work very closely with our sheriff’s offices, our police chiefs, and also our neighboring jurisdictions. And we’ve actually round up cattle thieves in Louisiana and brought them back into Mississippi. We’re working with the FBI and working with our partners in Louisiana. So, it’s an important thing. It’s a technical amendment just to update the law.

We, also, we’re watching some of the other big-ticket items. There’s a bill in the House that would put restrictions on foreign government ownership of land. We’re very interested in that. It’s a big deal. We need to make sure that we retain the right to produce our own food in this country. I think everybody would agree with that and not let China or somebody buy it up.

And, uh, you know, there’s some other technical - I tell you one thing I’m really interested in is this criminal crime situation. We’re operating the fairgrounds, uh, in Jackson, Mississippi. And not only do we have a water crisis that we had to deal with by putting down a new well, but we have a - there’s a public safety crisis in Jackson, Mississippi. Let’s face it.

(Will) Sure.

(Andy Gipson) I heard the governor talking about it on his “State of the State” the other day. Well, there’s some bills that would clamp down on that and put some new Capitol police authority. And I support that because somebody needs to be enforcing the law down here. And when you don’t enforce the law, criminals get by - think they can get by doing everything. That’s why you got a hundred carjackings pending right now in Jackson, Mississippi. Carjacking cases - the lieutenant governor told me that the other day. So, I support the work they’re doing on that. I think it’s good for our people. You all have to work in Jackson. I got employees that have to work here. And we need to crack down on this bad element, and make sure they know if they break the law, there’re going to be consequences. And I commend the legislature for working on that.

But, uh, yeah, we’re monitoring things and working on issues. And we are supportive of, uh, you know, of course, the projects that y’all have going to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to move our products across the state of Mississippi. It does us no good to grow them in the field or in the pasture and have no way to get them across the bridge. We’ve got to have good infrastructure, and we appreciate y’all working on the roads of Mississippi all across the state.

(Will) Absolutely. Paul, before we jump to the next thing here, this might sound silly to plenty of folks out there, but cattle theft. I got to get an update here. I thought - and speaking of Yellowstone - I thought that was something that had ended, you know, a hundred years ago or something, but people still wrestling cattle.

(Andy Gipson) Well, this is a true story. Uh, we, uh, we had a stockyard in central Mississippi. They had all the cows hauled in. Farmers, like myself, delivered cattle, and it’s there overnight. This was on a Sunday night, getting ready for a Monday sale. And on Sunday night, a sorry, good-for-nothing thief pulled in and loaded up, I think, thirty head, thirty head of calves in the middle of the night - on Sunday night now - and drove them to Louisiana. Now, the good news is we, our folks, went over there and investigated and got them on camera, found out who it was, and actually got their tag number. Ran it. Found out who they were. Were able to call ahead over to Louisiana. And before the night was through, that gentleman felt led to bring them back.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) When he did, he was arrested and booked into the, uh, the local jail right there. So, I want to commend our agriculture livestock theft bureau agents, Chief Dean Bernard. Uh, you know, they’re doing good work. Nobody knows about it. This doesn’t make the press, but there’s still cattle theft, and it’s still here, and we still fight it. But also equipment: they have tractors, four-wheelers… you’d be surprised how many folks all the stolen four-wheelers out there.

(Will) Copper wire. We’re right there with you.

(Andy Gipson) That’s right.

(Will) Can’t keep the lights on because -

(Andy Gipson) Uh, shooting cows. And during deer season, it happens. I mean, people are just, uh, people are just something else.

(Paul) People need to behave, for sure.

(Andy Gipson) Behave.

(Paul) Act right.

(Andy Gipson) Just act right. Do right. Do the right thing.

(Will) We’re gonna have to send Dean Bernard after them.

(Andy Gipson) Amen.

(Paul) So, you talked a little bit about the importance of, you know, having a strong transportation network for agriculture and commerce. You just mentioned again, but, uh, before the show you were talking - there’s some, there’s some good records that you have over there.

(Andy Gipson) You know, we are really proud of our farmers, and I brought with me - this is just a one-pager. I’m sorry it’s not in color, but this is our top ten agriculture commodities that we produce in this state. Of course number one is chicken and along with that is eggs, of course. But, uh, this year came in at nearly $4 billion. Now this is the value of the product at the farm gate before it’s ever processed into your Chik-Fil-A sandwich: at $3.84 billion.

Soybeans: $1.78 billion. Forestry: $1.3 billion. Corn: $631 million. Cotton: $624 million. Livestock: $455 million. Catfish: $257 million. Hay: $164 million. Sweet potatoes: $112 million. And then everything else - crops like blueberries: $111 million. Now what all this adds up to is $9.72 billion.

That’s an all-time record in Mississippi. It’s two years in a row our farmers have produced record value of production in this state - even in the midst of a pandemic, when a lot of other states were quitting or, you know, folding up their arms and going to the house. Our farmers kept working, and we appreciate them, and we’re thankful for them. And every time I tell folks, “Thank a farmer”, I mean it, but especially now during these days.

We know how important our food production is, and farmers are doing more with less today, even in the face of inflation and the doubling prices of fertilizer. Farmers are getting the job done at an all-time record in this state. And I’m so proud of our agriculture industry. And that’s where you guys come in, after they do their job. We got to get it moved, right? Got to get it transported.

(Will) That’s right. And I know we have a great working relationship with you guys out there. I’m sure you run into our crews. We run into y’all. But everything I’ve always heard is always a good working relationship between everybody. One question about - on this list of commodities here. I really thought catfish would be higher up there.

(Andy Gipson) Well, you would think so, but here’s the thing. We are number one. Mississippi is the number one producer of catfish in the country.

(Will) Okay.

(Andy Gipson) So, we’re - it’s our - it’s, uh, number whatever it is: one, two, three, four, five, six on the list, but actually, as a state, we are the top producer of catfish - of U. S. farm-raised catfish - in America. Behind us, I think, is Arkansas, and, uh, Alabama. Or Alabama, Arkansas - one or the other. But, we are proud of that. And, you know, catfish is, uh, is something special in Mississippi. We’re the ones who really found out - our farmers figured out how to raise catfish that tastes good.

(Will) Clean. That’s right.

(Andy Gipson) It’s clean and good. And, uh, it’s good on a Friday night at the fish house for everybody.

(Paul) Getting us hungry.

(Will) And one - just one other - that’s just for my interest here. The poultry. That large. That big. Where do we kind of look nationally on that? Are we number one too?

(Andy Gipson) I think we’re, as a state, we’re probably in the top five producers of poultry. Now, let me tell you something that just happened about poultry. Um, I went to a Carthage processing plant the other day. They were processing birds. I asked them how many birds they processed, and they were doing a lot. And I could tell it was a lot. It’s uh, 40 - excuse me - it’s 400,000 birds a day. 400,000 chickens every day being processed in Carthage, Mississippi. I asked them where all those chickens go. That’s a lot. They said two-thirds of it’s going to Chick-Fil-A.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Andy Gipson) I said, “My goodness.” I said, “What did y’all do before Chick-Fil-A?” He said, “We thank God for Chick-Fil-A.”

(Will) I guess so.

(Andy Gipson) That being said, just last year, into last year, Chick- Fil-A came in and bought all the new equipment and retrofitted an older plant over in Scott County. And it, today, is back up and running, doing 100% Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A is the fastest growing - this is not a Chick-Fil-A advertisement - but it’s the fastest growing restaurant in the world. And when you get your Chick-Fil-A sandwich, you might well be eating Mississippi-raised, genuine Mississippi chicken.

(Will) That’s pretty cool.

(Andy Gipson) It’s cool. It’s, it, that’s why agriculture touches everybody, from the farmer to the processor, to whoever’s in the line at Chick-Fil-A waiting for your sandwich and lemonade. It touches everybody’s lives.

(Will) Gotta have the lemonade with it.

(Paul) Gotta have it. We were just talking the other day. I mean, Chick-Fil-A is one of those foods never, never gets old. You can eat it every day. Probably not the best for you, but anyway. That’s very good. Commissioner, Commissioner Gipson, we’ve covered a lot of ground. Anything else you kind of want to get out there that we’ve missed on before we wrap up?

(Andy Gipson) Well, just, uh, I brought one piece of information that most people don’t know. And I could talk all day about things people don’t know about the Department of Agriculture. But our Petroleum Inspection Division is one we’re really proud of. We are the agency tasked by the legislature with inspecting all the petroleum pumps statewide.

And so, this, uh, this particular year, this is our annual report to the legislature. This year we tested 57,745 devices at about 2,600 retail establishments. We test that for quantity, how much that pump is is producing. That makes sure our people are getting what they pay for, and also quality - to make sure it doesn’t have any water or any of the dilutive additive in it, a problematic issue. So, our Petroleum Inspection Division is doing that work. That’s why you see our inspections on the pump. And, everybody, if you ever have an issue with your fuel quality or quantity, uh, being at that pump, just give that number a call. We’ll send somebody out there that day.

(Will) That was next question.

(Andy Gipson) That’s right. That’s why that sticker’s there. You call it. There will be a response that day.

(Paul) Amazing. Amazing.

(Will) That’s pretty good.

(Paul) Great.

(Will) Well, let’s bring us home here with the end-all question, the one we look forward to. We’ve already talked about food about three times during this podcast. But -

(Andy Gipson) We like to eat.

(Will) But we like to eat. We love to eat. And we say it here, as a people, as a podcast, we like to eat. Um, we’re gonna switch it up a little for you. Last year we had you on, we talked about some great ones. I went back and listened to it earlier. Berry’s and Jerry’s both got big mentions. Uh, and you still cannot go wrong. And while it is Dixie National season we’re not quite to the fair just yet. What would you say your favorite fair food is?

(Andy Gipson) Well…

(Will) If you can.

(Andy Gipson) Yeah. My favorite fair food in October. I get to sample a little bit of everything, I have to say. But if, if I couldn’t pick the biscuits at the biscuit booth -but I do dearly love them - then I guess I would go down… I really like an elephant ear.

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(Andy Gipson) Just a good, deep-fried elephant ear. And I guess I got that from my mother, who likes them. She introduced me to them. And people come and put that sugar on top of them. My goodness! It’s - I wouldn’t eat it every day - but it’s good in October at the Mississippi State Fair.

(Will) I’m gonna have to go to Krispy Kreme after this now. Got it on my mind. That’s great. I would not disagree.

(Andy Gipson) Just y’all come see us at the Dixie National, at the steakhouse, all the events that are going on. We got livestock shows, the Sale of Champions, then the rodeo February 10-18. We want to see you there. And we’re gonna have a, I predict, unless something should happen, we’re gonna have an all-time record, another all-time record Dixie National.

(Will) I hope so.

(Paul) There we go. Record’s broken. We love to see it. Commissioner Gipson, you’re a great friend to MDOT. Thank you so much for joining us today.

(Andy Gipson) Thank y’all for having me, and we’ll see y’all on the road.

(Will) That’s right.

(Andy Gipson) Thank you.

(Paul) Yes, sir. No doubt. So, just want to thank all of our listeners out there for tuning in to The Extra Mile podcast. Remember, you can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/theextramile. We want to remind you that you can follow us on social media to keep up with everything MDOT. Follow @MississippiDOT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. I want to thank our producer Katey Hornsby, our editor Drew Hall. They do lots of great work behind the scenes. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.