From the President

In looking over the stories for this month’s issue, I noticed one dedicated to National Agriculture Week, which this year runs March 16-22. This is an annual event to honor the hard work and dedication of farmers, ranchers and producers involved in agriculture across the nation.
Texas has a rich heritage of farming and ranching. It’s our state’s second-largest industry with 80 percent of the land in the state dedicated to some form of agricultural production. The food, fiber and horticulture industry generates about $73 billion a year for the Texas economy and employs nearly one out of every seven working Texans. Further, we are the second-largest agricultural state in the United States, accounting for about 7 percent of the total U.S. agricultural income.
Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis. But, too few people understand the full implications of this contribution. This is especially true in our schools, where students may only be exposed to agriculture if they enroll in a related vocational training program.
There are people in almost all of our counties who are dedicated to not only serving the Texas agriculture community but also to providing quality, relevant outreach and education programs to the people of Texas. Those people are the county Extension agents. I know most of you are familiar with them, but I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize the work they do in each of our counties.
Working through the Texas A&M system, the state Legislature, and the communities they serve, the agents of what is now called the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are dedicated to providing community-based education that is relevant for their specific service areas. The Extension service has a vast network of 250 county offices, 616 agents, and 343 subject-matter specialists who are available to every resident of every county. Because a program offered in Fort Worth is not necessarily relevant to the Rio Grande Valley, AgriLife Extension custom designs its programs to fit different areas of the state, depending significantly on local residents for input and program delivery.
Extension also has a program specifically directed toward educating young people about agriculture