Texas Department of Agriculture is a state agency established by the Texas Legislature in 1907. TDA has marketing and regulatory responsibilities and administers more than 50 separate laws. TDA promotes Texas agricultural products locally, nationally and internationally and assists in the development of the agribusiness industry in Texas. It also regulates the sale, use and disposal of pesticides and herbicides and controls destructive plant pests and diseases and ensures the accuracy of all weighing and measuring devices used in commercial transactions. TDA s administrative services division provides all support functions including financial services, purchasing, human resources, computer hardware and software, information processing, special events, printing, archives, capital, office space, warehousing and mail services. With more than 500 employees, TDA headquarters are located in Austin and has five regional service offices, four satellite offices, seven laboratories and six livestock export facilities throughout the state.