TN Agriculture Department Commissioner Charlie Hatcher to retire; Andy Holt will fill role

Tennessee State Capitol (Photo: John Partipilo)

Tennessee Department of Agriculture Charlie Hatcher will retire from the role this month, Gov. Bill Lee’s office announced Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner Andy Holt, a former Tennessee House representative, will take the reins on Oct. 1.

Hatcher, a veterinarian and fifth-generation Tennessee farmer, was among Lee’s first cabinet picks after Lee won the 2018 gubernatorial election. Hatcher was sworn in as the state’s 38th commissioner of agriculture in January 2019.

Hatcher said his time as commissioner was “the honor of my life” in a prepared statement.

“Together, we have made the largest investments in rural Tennessee’s history, expanded opportunities for young people through FFA, 4H, and education partnerships, and safeguarded farmland for future generations,” he said.

Hatcher also praised Lee’s push to preserve Tennessee farmland, most recently through the Tennessee Farmland Preservation Act. 

Tennessee’s General Assembly approved the governor-backed legislation in May, setting aside $25 million in grants for farmers who choose to place their farmland in a permanent conservation easement. The easement blocks farmland from being sold for any purpose other than agricultural use. It took two years for Lee to rally support for the act, which went into effect in July.

“I am proud to have played a role in carrying forward his vision,” Hatcher said of Lee’s farmland conservation initiative.

Prior to his appointment as commissioner, Hatcher served as the agriculture department’s state veterinarian starting in 2009.

Outside of his nearly 21 years of government service, Hatcher founded Rock-N-Country Veterinary Services in College Grove in the early 1990s. The practice is now run by his daughter Jennifer. 

The Hatcher family farm and dairy, which is now run by his son Charles, have called College Grove home since 1831.

Holt appointed as commissioner

Lee said he is “confident (Holt) will serve Tennesseans with integrity by strengthening rural communities and supporting our agriculture industry” in a Wednesday statement. 

As deputy commissioner, Holt oversaw the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s daily operations, including programs spanning food safety, animal and plant health, forestry, and agricultural development, according to a news release from Lee’s office.

Holt, a first-generation farmer, lives with his wife Ellie and their seven children on Holt Family Farms in Dresden.

Holt’s farming operation fell under scrutiny in 2015 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency threatened to seek $177,500 in fines from him, alleging that he improperly buried hog carcasses and dumped around 800,000 gallons of waste water into a tributary of the Mississippi River without a permit. 

Holt said at the time that he self-reported the discharges. The EPA ultimately withdrew its filing in 2016 when he agreed to enter into a consent order requiring him to close and clean up two wastewater lagoons on the property.