The Texas Ag Commissioner was in town this week and we were able to catch up with him and ask him to share his thoughts on some of the challenges agricultural producers are currently facing in the state of Texas.

“The recent rains have been fabulous, I’m very thankful for those. We need to get our reservoirs refilled. You can do some things on feeding to make it through a difficult short time, but hauling water never works. If we don’t get these tanks and these ponds and these lakes refilled, it’s going to continue to be a major crisis in this state.”

Texas Ag Commissioner Todd Staples says agriculture becomes increasingly important with every passing day.

“Our census counters tell us that there are a million new people on this globe every five days, and so to invest in food and fiber production is clearly a keystone of our economy. It’s something that we have to continue to invest in research and science and technology.”

Staples believes that as we see producers chasing two dollar cotton and seven or eight dollar corn we’re also seeing a major shift in agriculture.

“My entire life agriculture has been defined by a surplus, producing more than we need, artificially depressing prices when supply has been greater than demand. I’ve talked to many producers here over the last twelve months, who with the increased population growth, and the diets improving around the world, believe that we’re in a new era. We’re changing from an era of surplus to now an era of shortage in agriculture.”

And with that should come a better understanding of how important agriculture is to our daily lives.

“This last session of the legislature went down as one of the most private property owner friendly sessions in anyone’s recent memory, and I think that sends the right message to lawn owners that in Texas, we haven’t veered very far from where we began, and that’s understanding that value comes from the land.”

I’m Shel Winkley, looking at Brazos Valley Agriculture, From The Ground Up.