TEXAS NEIGHBORS | SUMMER 2019 By Julie Tomascik Editor Vast. Diverse. More than $100 billion annually in economic impact. But most Texas farms and ranches are family owned. And one in seven Texas jobs depends on it. Texas has 248,416 farms covering 127 million acres. We lead the nation in cattle, cotton, sheep and goats and wool and mohair production. Rural towns lean on agriculture for their existence, and urban neighbors find it their source of safe, abundant and affordable food. This plateful of Texas agriculture facts shows there’s something different to see around every curve in the road. And Texas agricul-ture won’t disappoint. Out of hundreds of commodities grown in Texas, 10 rise to the top in terms of market value. TEN POULTRY & EGGS TOP TEXAS AG COMMODITIES CATTLE & CALVES 1 2 COTTON & COTTONSEED Americans love their chicken and eggs. Texas farmers provide a large nugget of that, too! We rank sixth in broiler production in the U.S., with most of that in East and Central Texas. Egg production in the state includes table eggs, broiler-type and other egg-type hatching eggs. Poultry and egg production earns more than $2.9 billion in sales annu-ally. Texas farmers raise about 619 million meat-type broilers and 28,000 laying hens. 3 4 MILK 5 GRAINS Texas has more than 531,000 dairy cows that keep our milk fresh and bodies strong. The majority are milked in the Texas Panhandle, but there are dairy farms in all regions of the state. The average Texas dairy farm has 1,188 cows, and the Texas dairy industry contributes $2.1 billion in milk sales each year. There are 467 dairy farms in Texas. There are more than 10,000 farms in Texas that grow corn, wheat, sorghum, barley and rice. Those grains are used in livestock feed, human food and other byproducts. Corn, sorghum and wheat are the top three grain crops in Texas. Black, red, white and shades in between—cows and calves dot pastures around the state. In Texas, 152,882 farms and ranches account for 12.57 million head of cattle and calves. Cattle is the top agricultural enterprise in Texas, and we lead the nation in cattle production. Some call it Texas snow. Miles and miles of flu y cotton stretch over the state in late summer and early fall. Texas grows more cotton than any other state. Texas farmers grow about 25 percent of the entire U.S. crop. Cotton and cottonseed bring in $2.6 billion annually. Nearly 9 million bales are produced from 6,212 Texas farms. WWW.TEXASFARMBUREAU.ORG