With origins dating back to the mid-1990s, Tennessee has one of the oldest agricultural specialty license plates in the United States.
The state, long known as being a top producer of tobacco and cotton, has a beautiful landscape of western mountains, idyllic rolling hills in the midsection, and expansive flat and fertile areas toward the western boundary with the Mississippi River. Across that span, roughly 79,000 farms cover almost 11 million acres.
The agricultural specialty plate, known as the Ag Tag, has the rich history to match. Launched in 1996, the design was created by Cynthia Kent, a former creative director with the Agriculture Advancement Division at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The design, which is still in use today (even if the images are little smaller now), was developed based on a sketch of her grandfather’s barn in Pickett County.
“The Ag Tag with its recognizable red barn conveys Tennessee’s rural heritage and the value our citizens place on farming families,” said Kim Doddridge, Public Information Officer with TDA. “The license plate has a real impact on agricultural programs for young people and for local farmers. When someone puts the Ag Tag on their vehicle, they are helping sustain agricultural and forestry development and leadership programs.”
The plate is available for passenger vehicles and costs $35 over the price of a regular plate. The funds collected through Ag Tag sales are administered by TDA through the Tennessee Agricultural Development Fund to directly benefit agricultural youth organizations, agricultural and forestry awareness, education and marketing efforts, and support for farmers markets.
Doddridge said that $9.1 million has been collected since 1996. Contributions include annual donations of $55,000 each to Tennessee FFA Foundation, Tennessee 4-H Foundation, and the Tennessee Department of Education’s Governor’s School for the Agricultural Sciences. Tennessee Foundation for Ag in the Classroom receives $65,000 annually.
“We have been blessed to receive funding for the Ag in the Classroom program since its inception, as it continues to help us share the message about agriculture with young people in grades K-12,” said Lee Maddox, communications director at Tennessee Farm Bureau. “The money we receive goes back into the program to help provide instructional material for teachers to help better educate students about our most important industry.”
Maddox noted that everyone on the Farm Bureau staff sports the Ag Tag.
“It looks great and is a great conversation piece with anyone that I come in contact to share the important message of agriculture,” he added.
While tobacco and cotton might be the two crops Tennessee is most famous for, cattle, broilers, and soybeans are the top commodities in the state, with corn and nursery products almost making strong showings. When encompassing forestry, roughly 80 percent of Tennessee’s land is used for agricultural purposes.
In fiscal year 2022-23, the Ag Tag was the fourth most-popular specialty license plate in Tennessee. Since its launch through 2023, there have been 19,685 Ag Tag plates issued.
