Animal Industry Technical Council
For Meeting Information Please Contact:
Carol Evans, Staff Assistant/AITC Coordinator
850-410-0943; Carol.Evans@freshfromflorida.com
The Animal Industry Technical Council (AITC) – Then and Now
The Animal Industry Technical Council (AITC) is a statutorily-designated advisory board reporting to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Council is composed of animal industry leaders from the meat packing, beef, poultry, dairy, agricultural markets, reptile, equine, equine practitioners, swine, veterinary medicine, deer, and small ruminants’ industries. Quarterly meetings are open to the public and advertised in the Florida Administrative Weekly.
The Animal Industry Technical Council (AITC) was created in 1959 as a result of a recommendation made by the Agricultural Services Committee in a special report to the Governor, Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Legislature.
Under the 1969 Governmental Reorganization Act, the Department of Agriculture was renamed the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Animal Industry Technical Committee became the Animal Industry Technical Council. The Council was charged with advising the Department of matters pertaining to animal industry in the state.
The Council's forerunner was the old Florida Livestock and Sanitary Board created in 1923 and the Florida Livestock Board created in 1953, both of which were autonomous agencies required to regulate the animal industry in the state. Again in 1959, the Florida Livestock Board was stripped of its regulatory powers when the Division of Animal Industry was created under the Department of Agriculture and given the regulatory powers heretofore assigned to the Livestock Board. The Livestock Board, being composed of citizens, was retained as the technical committee (later called council) which would advise the Department on animal industry matters.
Authority: §570.38, Florida Statutes.
