ATLANTA, Ga. — Food safety records became the flashpoint this week as Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Katherine Juhan-Arnold met for their televised debate in Atlanta.
Juhan-Arnold said state numbers show inspections of food businesses fell from full coverage in 2022 to 55% in 2025, a drop she put at 45%, and she pressed Harper on why promised food safety and fast recall alerts had not materialized.
Harper rejected that picture. He said his department has added inspections while the number of regulated businesses grew 30% and staff grew only 12%, called her criticism an attack on agency workers, and said it should disqualify her from the job.
The two found more common ground on data centers, a growing worry in rural Georgia where most farmland sits. Both said development should slow over water use, energy costs and lost farmland. Harper said data centers should pay all of their own utility and infrastructure costs, give up eminent domain and lose state tax breaks, and that local communities should keep the right to say no. Juhan-Arnold called for required reviews of water needs and drought effects on agriculture before industrial projects win approval.
Harper cited projections that Georgia could see 800,000 acres of farmland disappear by 2040 and pointed to the state farmland conservation fund and limits on land purchases by foreign adversaries. On prices, he highlighted his challenges to corporate food mergers and the push to put Georgia Grown products in school cafeterias.
Juhan-Arnold pitched regional food hubs, estimated at about $2 million each, plus smaller micro-hubs costing $150,000 to $275,000, and said the state has left federal grant money on the table for a decade. Both addressed the Cyclospora outbreak earlier this year, which did not start in Georgia but rattled shoppers, with Juhan-Arnold calling for clearer, faster recall warnings.
Early voting runs through Friday, Oct. 30.
Section: More Atlanta GA politics news
