By Gene Hall

Change is good. A chance to update and refresh is exactly what’s needed every now and then.

That time has come for Texas Agriculture Talks. This column represents the final new entry of the long-running blog. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading and reacting to Texas Agriculture Talks as much as we’ve enjoyed crafting the columns over the years.

When Mike Barnett and I started Texas Agriculture Talks 10 years ago, our goal was to challenge the “conventional wisdom” on agricultural issues. Mike is enjoying his retirement now, but he has my thanks for his tremendous contributions on this groundbreaking blog.

By Jeremy Brown

We’ve all read the headlines condemning agriculture, and we should take those attacks personally. Because they affect each one of us—farmers and ranchers in Texas and across the nation.

We get angry and blame lack of knowledge. But we should channel that anger into productivity. To fuel our passion and share our stories.

That’s how we make progress, and it’s working. Consumer trust in agriculture is growing. We’re plowing the ground and planting seeds of information, assurance and transparency. That cultivates and strengthens relationships with our consumers.

By Russell Boening
Texas Farm Bureau President

On the farm or in town, agriculture grows Texas. Sustainably.

From the fruit and vegetable farms in the Rio Grande Valley to the world’s largest cotton patch in the South Plains. Consider the nursery and landscape businesses in East Texas, combined with vast pastures in Central and West Texas. Farmers and ranchers are doing more with less.

They’re farming with an eye to the future. Texas’ future.

That’s sustainability, and it’s nothing new for farmers and ranchers. We’ve been doing it for five generations or more.

By Julie Tomascik

Growin’ up country offers the biggest playground. Of fields that stretch for miles, open skies and backroads just waiting to be explored.

Farm and ranch kids take it all in. And grow a fond appreciation for independence and quality time with family.

Kicking up dust and learning life lessons. It comes with the territory. And a knack for finding trouble does, too.

It’s a childhood unlike any other. But there are a few things that come standard with it.

Here are 10 signs you grew up on a farm:

By Gene Hall

The following views are my own. Neither my employer, Texas Farm Bureau, nor its AGFUND PAC has ever endorsed a candidate for president. As an ag writer for most of four decades, I am compelled to ask myself, “What kind of candidate would be good for agriculture?” This is not, however, an endorsement or even a hint of one.

An affinity for agriculture issues would help, as would an understanding of farm and ranch people. Farm and ranch families now comprise less than two percent of the population. Leadership pragmatic enough to listen and compromise on agricultural legislation is the only way anything to do with agriculture even gets a vote.