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Agriculture Steve Troxler told an audience at the N.C. Farm Bureau he would run for a third term this morning. When we spoke after his speech to the group, he talked about the challenges of integrating 800 employees into his department this year after lawmakers moved several new agencies — such as the state forestry service — over to Agriculture.

He also talked about what he has learned from dealing with this year's hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and other disasters. He said that the state and federal government have pre-set programs to come in and help homeowners, rebuild highways and take care of life and safety issues immediately after a storm. But there's no pre-set effort to help farmers get back to work after a disaster. Changing that, he said, would be a goal for his next term.

"Agriculture falls through the gaps. So one of the things we want to do is create an agriculture strike team that will be able to respond to these disasters and just do the immediate things that could help people get back in business and help them get back on their feet," Troxler said.

You can listen to more of my interview with Troxler, including what he's growing out in Browns Summit, by clicking on the audio player below.