Department of Agriculture and Industries
In 1999, Sparks was appointed as Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, where he ran the day-to-day operations of the Department. In 2002, Sparks was elected Commissioner, winning 54 out of 67 counties, and defeating his Republican opponent in the general election by a margin of 53%-47%. In that campaign, Sparks was briefly criticized for appearing in media produced by the Department. However, he responded that the media in question was time-sensitive, and that the then-Commissioner had scaled back his involvement in the Department’s operations following his own defeat in the gubernatorial primary a few months earlier. In this campaign, Sparks became one of the rare Democrats to win the endorsement of the Alabama Farmers Federation.
During his first term as Commissioner, Sparks pushed for country-of-origin labeling for food and agricultural products, citing health problems and under-cost dumping associated with imports from certain countries. He also initiated the establishment of state laboratories for expanded testing of food and agricultural products. Sparks also led efforts to open the Cuban market to Alabama farm products, traveling to the nation and meeting with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, leading to Cuba’s agreement to begin imports from Alabama.
He was re-elected in 2006. During this campaign, even The Birmingham News, which had criticized Sparks four years earlier, spoke favorably of Sparks's handling of a mad cow disease scare that could have threatened the state's cattle industry. Sparks built on his 2002 margin, defeating his Republican opponent by a margin of 59%-41%, making Sparks the leading statewide candidate on the Democratic ticket.
During his second term, Sparks has continued the expansion of the state lab system. When a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes occurred in the spring of 2008, Sparks acted to secure verification that tomatoes grown in Alabama were not suspected of contamination with the disease, and to facilitate marketing of those tomatoes as "safe."
Sparks is the 2007-08 President of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. He took over as President of the association at its annual meeting in September 2008.
Read more about this topic: Ron Sparks (politician)
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