The Commissioner of Agriculture (directly elected by voters statewide for a four-year term, and a member of the Florida Cabinet) is the head of the department.

[1] The Florida Constitution of 1868 provided for the creation of the Office of Commissioner of Immigration, whose duties consisted of attracting settlers to engage in agriculture.

(A Division of Corrections was created in 1957 and state prisons were removed from the list of Commissioner of Agriculture responsibilities).

This state law abolished some independent boards and bureaus, which were assigned to the Department of Agriculture's divisions.

[4] The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is headed by the commissioner, who is elected statewide to a four-year term.