By Gene Hall

Okay, I admit it.  Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack got my attention when he said rural America is becoming irrelevant.

“It’s time for us to have an adult conversation with folks in rural America,” Vilsack said in a speech at a Farm Journal forum. “It’s time for a different thought process here, in my view.”

Vilsack was once the governor of Iowa, a Democrat, and he expressed his disappointment over squabbling in the farm sector. He said rural America should pick its political fights more carefully. Citing the lack of a farm bill as evidence, Vilsack hinted that rural America, which voted overwhelmingly Republican, is losing its influence.

The following are excerpts from Texas Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke’s address to the membership at the annual meeting in Waco.

Texas Farm Bureau is closing in on eight full decades of service to the farm and ranch families of Texas.

This has not happened by accident, as generations of Farm Bureau leaders have now met 79 times to not only deal with the problems of the day, but to secure a legacy.

It’s a record of service of which I hope you are very proud. I often think about those members in 1933, recognizing that the old and failing organization that was created a decade before could not meet the needs of farmers and ranchers.

By Mike Barnett

It’s Texas best kept secret: Agriculture is a powerhouse not only in providing the food we eat but in generating jobs and value throughout the economy of the Lone Star State.

According to a study of the Texas High Plains region conducted by Texas Tech University and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, crop production accounts for about 15 percent of the entire area’s economy.

That adds up to $12.24 billion in crop output alone. Add an additional $4.66 billion in value-added economic activity resulting from crop production. Oh, and don’t forget: crop production directly accounts for more than 103,000 jobs, about 20 percent of employment in the region. Add in livestock and the total economic activity jumps to about one-third of the region’s economy. That’s about $24 billion.

By Mike Barnett

Thanksgiving is a day to count our blessings, be with family, watch football and eat until you can’t eat any more. It’s also a field day for a trivia nut like me. Here’s 10 things you probably don’t know about Thanksgiving:

10) The first Thanksgiving may have roots in Texas, according to the Texas Almanac. El Paso residents claim Thanksgiving goes back to Spanish Explorer Juan de Onate’s expedition to Texas in 1598. The Texas Society of Daughters of American Colonists placed a marker at Palo Duro Canyon where they claimed explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado celebrated the first Thanksgiving.

By Mike Barnett

I wandered the Cedar Park Farmers Market in Austin recently and found every kind of agriculture product under the sun.

Of course there were the standard “fresh” tomatoes and other “local” food.

But a young couple was making good money selling “sustainable” bean sprouts and micro-greens. Another was selling “organic” fresh meat—everything from duck to rabbit to beef and pork—cut up, packaged and ready to cook.

There was even a lady selling “grass-fed” pops, a popsicle made with milk from dairy cows that apparently were not fed grain. Each to their own.

By Gene Hall

I used to be a fork. I’m a spoon now. See the picture above and the clever way this display shows how many farming forks meet the needs of a whole bunch of consuming spoons.

It was not always thus. In the beginning, nearly everyone was a fork. Over time, we’ve evolved into a nation of spoons. At the turn of the last century, 112 years ago, it was something of a 50/50 proposition.