ATLANTA --- The three men running for agriculture commissioner this year are concentrating their proposals on strengthening the farm economy.

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All consumers depend on products regulated by the agriculture commissioner, from grocery stores and pet shops to the quality of gasoline. The commissioner deals with so many issues, including foreign affairs as they relate to food exports and homeland security as it relates to food safety, that the job is written into the state constitution.

The same man, Tommy Irvin, has held the job for 41 years. That means whoever wins in November will likely reshape the Department of Agriculture in significant ways.

Running this year are Republican Gary Black; Democrat J.B. Powell, a former Augusta Commission member; and Libertarian Kevin Cherry. The two major-party candidates both farm some on the side. Black farms in Commerce, but his main job until the campaign was as president and lobbyist for the Georgia Agribusiness Council. Powell, a senator and member of the Senate Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee, farms in Blythe, where he grew up, but his main employment is as a project manager for Total Maintenance Solutions.

Powell is the first statewide candidate for any office to come out in favor of legalized betting on horse racing. He argues that it could have a $1 billion economic impact and create as many as 20,000 jobs, estimates that some in the media have disputed.

"Georgians deserve to have a commissioner of agriculture who will fight for common-sense ideas that will help lead Georgia out of the economic challenges we face," he said.

He also supports the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk to consumers, something Irvin has fought but a goal of pockets of people who favor organic foods.

"The current law that is in place is taking innocent farmers and making criminals of them because people want to drink milk straight from the cow," he said.

To help farmers, while fighting childhood obesity, Powell promises to order schools using federal free-lunch grants that flow through the state Agriculture Department to buy from local producers.

Black, Irvin's GOP challenger four years ago, would take a different approach in the schools. He announced last week a plan to require schools to use entirely locally grown produce one week each year and to feature the farmers in classrooms so students will become more aware of agriculture.

"We can educate our kids and our communities about farming, science and nutrition while also promoting a real work ethic in a way that will be fun and truly eye-opening for everybody," he said. "Bringing local communities together to take on the challenge of feeding their school for a week is a win-win-win for students, farmers and parents."

He wants to encourage wholesalers to improve their marketing of produce from small farmers and to pool their crops as a way to secure contracts with institutional customers, including restaurants and hospitals. He would also put the department's Market Bulletin newsletter online and expand it into a craigslist-type exchange for produce.

Black won the nomination this year by defeating Darwin Carter, a former Reagan agriculture official. Carter has endorsed Powell.

Carter accuses Black of being beholden to the feed, seed and fertilizer dealers who belong to the Agribusiness Council.

Powell has had his own conflicts of interest. He and Total Maintenance Solutions did $2 million in business with companies that managed the Augusta wastewater treatment system, companies he oversaw as chairman of the city's public works committee when he was on the city commission, according to stories published in The Augusta Chronicle .