Staples: ag sales worth billions here

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
February 12, 2010

By Alyssa Dizon

Lubbock-The Lubbock area makes about $9.6 billion in agriculture sales each year. That's what Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples told the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce's sixth annual power breakfast on Thursday.

More than 200 people filled the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center to enjoy a buffet breakfast and hear Staples give an update on Texas agriculture. He listed recent statistics to show how successful and valuable that industry is to the rest of the country and world.

The event, also called the farm show breakfast, has been a partnership between the chamber and the Southwest Farm and Ranch Classic since the show began six years ago, said Eddie McBride, the chamber's president and CEO.

"We celebrate the rich, vast agri-business sector ... (and) how important producers are to our overall community," he said.

Staples encouraged the audience to participate or contribute to the TDA's programs such as the GO TEXAN marketing initiatives and the "Agriculture is your culture" campaign to provide Texans with a "quality food supply."

Through GO TEXAN, consumers can see exactly what products are locally produced in Texas, whether it be food, livestock, fiber or plants. Staples said 81 percent of Texans prefer buying local products, and labeling those items makes it easier for shoppers to find. In Lubbock, he said there are more than 50 GO TEXAN member businesses, and he wants the number to keep growing.

The intent of the "Agriculture is your culture" campaign is to educate people on what the agriculture industry is and how it affects their daily lives.

"It's more than the food we eat; it's more than the clothes that we wear," he said. "It's the products that go in our toothpaste; it's the products that go in our medicines."

Traditionally, the breakfast has been the opening event for the farm show. This year, show manager Monica Hightower said the breakfast was moved to the last day of the show so Staples could be the guest speaker. Every year, the chamber selects a speaker who is typically not from Lubbock to give producers a chance to hear new opinions, she said.

At the conclusion of the breakfast, exhibitors opened doors to the farm show early for producers to look at new technologies in farm production, livestock equipment, financial agencies and commodity groups.

The Thursday farm show also featured five speakers who discussed water and energy conservation, cotton and safflower production and ranch management.

"You're like a big kid in a candy store," said Larry Rasco, who owns a landscaping company.

Even though Rasco said he typically does not buy the large equipment farmers might buy, he was impressed by the increased number of exhibits and companies at this year's show.

There were 95 exhibitors represented at the Southwest Farm and Ranch Classic.

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