Swift Victory at San Jacinto Wins Texas Independence

The 18-minute battle that gave birth to the proud state of Texas still stands as a testament to the tenacity of our fearless forefathers. Their victory and our debt of gratitude turn 176 years old today.

Driven by a fierce desire for independence from Mexico – and fueled further by revenge following the massacre at Goliad and the fall of the Alamo – Texas freedom fighters claimed a swift and decisive victory at the Battle of San Jacinto. Led by Gen. Sam Houston and rallying beneath battle cries of “Remember Goliad!” and “Remember the Alamo!” Texas fighters staged a successful surprise attack against Santa Anna’s Mexican forces. So swift was the attack in modern-day Harris County that some 650 Mexican fatalities were counted alongside only nine fallen Texans. Another 700-plus Mexican soldiers were taken prisoner, and Santa Anna himself was captured the following day.  

Freedom is something Americans hold dear. As you enjoy this monumental day in our great state’s history, please also remember the Alamo, remember Goliad and remember the blood, bravery and sacrifice that won freedom for the Lone Star State.

Texas Youth of the Year Finalists on Track to Becoming Tomorrow’s Leaders

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with state finalists from the 2012 Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year program. The energy, dedication and character of these young adults is truly inspiring.

2012 Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year State Finalists

The finalists were selected by their local Boys & Girls Club, and state winners will be awarded scholarships as they compete at the regional and national levels for the title of National Youth of the Year.

The teens come from almost every corner of Texas and all have diverse life stories. Edwin Padilla, a high school senior from Edinburg, will be the first person in his family to graduate high school and attend college. Tavon Green, from Marshall, has a 4.1 grade point average and has been on the honor roll since first grade. Chadae Sauls, a senior at Red Oak High School near Dallas, balances school activities, academics and community service while still serving more than 1,000 hours at her local Boys & Girls Club. 


All finalists have demonstrated a strong moral character and a commitment to serve their families and communities. I am proud to have them represent Texas and look forward to hearing about their continued accomplishments as they become future leaders of the Lone Star State. If you want to have a positive impact on the future of our great state, you might consider becoming active in your local Boys & Girls Club. Texas needs leaders developing leaders! Visit www.bgca.org.

Living Within Our Means Makes Sense in More Ways Than One

In a move that makes as much common sense as fiscal sense, Gov. Rick Perry today announced his Texas Budget Compact in preparation for the 2013 legislative session. In essence, the governor called for fiscal responsibility and accountability from lawmakers, city leaders and citizens. In other words, we all must live within our means.

Low taxes, no state income tax and higher-than-average employment rates have long made Texas the envy of the nation. These attributes and many others have made Texas the best state in which to live, work, start a business and raise a family. This is no time to raise taxes or go on a governmental spending spree. A conservative approach to the state budget got us where we are and will guide us into the future.

At the Texas Department of Agriculture, we recently were faced with a state funding budget-cut directive of 40 percent. The cuts required innovative thinking and greater efficiencies in order to maintain the same quality level of services our constituents pay us to deliver. It wasn’t easy, but we are succeeding thanks to the initiatives and dedication of our employees who feel a responsibility to deliver day in and day out.

Cutting wasteful and redundant government spending is something we all can support. Keeping taxes low and employment high is also hard to argue.

Living within our means not only makes sense today, but also into the future when our children will inherit our great state. 

Breaking Agriculture’s Stereotype

Anyone who thinks agriculture doesn’t touch their lives needs to watch a new video making the rounds on Facebook. As the video from Texas A&M graduate student Jasmine Dillon illustrates, we all must stand up for agriculture. Through science, chemistry, technology and other forward-thinking disciplines, agriculture touches all of our lives multiple times each day. At the Texas Department of Agriculture, we remind people of this fact through our awareness campaign called Agriculture is Your Culture. It’s a theme that echoes loudly in Jasmine’s thought-provoking video. Click here to check out the video. I think you will be impressed!

Texas Wildlife Magazine Explores ‘Beirut on the Border’

A special April 2012 issue of Texas Wildlife magazine is devoted to the stories of life along the Texas-Mexico border as told by landowners who face daily encroachment and intimidation at the hands of illegal immigrants and drug cartels. As the cover-story title, “Beirut on the Border,” makes clear, there are plenty of Texans who strongly beg to differ with Washington’s ill-informed assessment that our border is safer than ever.

No one argues the fact that there are plenty of good places along our border that may never see any of the violence and mayhem associated with the drug cartel heinous activities. However, if you are one of the landowners who have trails beaten down on your property or have been shot at or chased off your own land, you have a different story to tell.

I thank the Texas Wildlife Association for dedicating its magazine to such an important issue and shedding light on this growing national security problem. To learn more, go here.

Tighten the Faucet, Texas: Learn to Live Water Smart

With another heat wave around the corner following a devastating, historical drought, I traveled to Mesquite today to help kick off a water conservation initiative called Texas Water Smart.

Born of a unique public-private coalition of businesses, concerned citizens, and government leaders Texas Water Smart encourages simple, common-sense water-use habits as a means of statewide conservation. Fixing a leaky faucet or using a watering can instead of a hose may not sound like it makes much difference, but when those precious drops are multiplied by 25 million Texans, the savings are measured not only in water, but also in jobs, landscapes and commerce.

In recent months, Texas saw drinking water jeopardized, outdoor watering nearly banned and our state’s $14.6 billion horticulture industry drifting dangerously close to the drain. And let’s not forget the record-setting wildfires that further depleted reserves or our booming population that will require even more water.

It’s better to learn the hard way than never to learn at all, so let’s please take the lessons learned of last year’s drought as a reminder for the need to have Water Smart daily habits. It’s time to tighten the faucet, Texas. It’s time to be Texas Water Smart.

A big thank you goes to State Representatives Dr. Mark Shelton, Marva Beck, Tan Parker, Chuck Hopson, Kenneth Sheets, Bill Zedler for attending the Texas Water Smart press conference. I also appreciate TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw and Lewis H. McMahan, member of the Texas Water Development Board for joining us for the launch of this conservation education  effort.A complete list of legislators and statewide leaders supporting the Texas Water Smart consumer awareness campaign will be released soon.

To learn more about simple, responsible ways to conserve, visit www.TexasWaterSmart.com.

Texas Drought Losses Top $8 Billion

The news was unwelcome, but hardly unexpected when the Texas AgriLife Extension Service recently reported 2011 Texas agricultural losses of $7.62 billion attributed to the recent historical drought, plus an additional $558 million from standing timber losses.

When you’re one of the top agricultural producing states in the nation, you not only supply food and fiber to our population, but are a major exporter around the country and globe. Retail food prices to consumers have increased due to the lower domestic supply and increased global demand.  Right here at home, the damage this has caused to family farms and communities cannot be overstated.  It was a punishing blow, but Texas agricultural producers have proved time and again they won’t go down without a fight.

To view news coverage of the drought loss reports, go here. 

Mandates vs. Opportunities

As the final accounting for 2011 draws to a close, the U.S. Treasury Department will report that gasoline and diesel refiners paid roughly $6.8 million in penalties because they failed to blend their fuel with federally-required levels of cellulosic ethanol. Why did these refiners allegedly ignore Congress’ mandate to blend approximately 250 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol into their fuel for 2011?  It’s pretty simple, because there’s not enough of the product.

Despite some promising lab results, cellulosic ethanol is not in commercial production and nowhere near reaching your corner gas pump. In fact, it barely exists at all. How much more out of touch can our federal mandates get? I’m afraid to find out.

Possibly foreseeing the painful scenario, that often results when government tries to manipulate the marketplace, Congress allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to adjust the renewable fuel standards to better align consumption mandates and production capability. EPA revised the mandates, reducing the artificial demand for non-existent cellulosic ethanol to 6.6 million gallons for 2011 and 8.65 million gallons for 2012, far short of the 500 million gallons originally envisioned by Congress. Correct me if I’m wrong, but reducing the requirement for something that doesn’t exist does not make it magically appear.

The money paid in fines may be put to good use, however, when it helps repay the federal deficit from failed investments in cellulosic ethanol companies now in bankruptcy or mothballed due to technology failures.

There is a solution, however, in the form of a very different biofuel that is readily available and produced right here in Texas: biodiesel. Action by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality removed a mandate requirement on costly fuel additives that had limited growth of the biodiesel market and raised the end costs to consumers. This change provides consumers with a less expensive product and one that is actually rooted in reality. Perhaps it is time to take advantage of existing opportunities rather than paying penalties for Congress’ unrealistic mandates.

Go For Gold During National School Breakfast Week

As people worldwide anticipate the Summer 2012 Olympic Games, Texas schools are getting an early jump on the excitement during the 2012 School Breakfast Week, March 5 - 9. Taking the national “Go for Gold” theme a step further, Texas is challenging children to participate in the weeklong Breakfast Olympics, which encourages physical activity alongside healthy breakfast choices.

This week, I visited Norman Elementary School in Austin and enjoyed meeting students, teachers, administrators and the nutrition staff. It was clear, the Norman Tigers are committed to going the extra mile to eat healthy and to win in the classroom and in life.  I appreciate the hospitality of all of those at the school.

Every school day, Texas serves breakfast to about 1.6 million children through the federally funded school breakfast program. Studies have shown that children who eat breakfast perform better in school and on the field of play. They also are more likely to develop healthy eating habits that will follow them into adulthood. Unfortunately, poor nutrition equals chronic diseases that ultimately cost big dollars.  These costs are avoidable if we reinforce the importance of making good choices.

By embracing the 3E’s of Healthy Living — Education, Exercise and Eating Right — our children are better prepared to fight the growing obesity epidemic and less likely to be a burden on our nation’s health care system.

More than 3,400 Texas schools have pledged to participate in School Breakfast Week. For the sake of individual health and the future health of Texas, I encourage those students and their parents to make a nutritious breakfast part of the daily run for the gold. 

To see more about my visit to Norman Elementary, click here for news coverage of the event. 

Thanks To Our Farmers And Ranchers On National Agriculture Day

When I travel across the state and speak to groups of people, I often will ask, “How many of you are involved in agriculture?” Usually only few hands go up. I then ask, “How many of you are planning to eat today?” That’s when it starts to set in and people begin to understand agriculture is part of their everyday lives.

Today is National Agriculture Day, a time to celebrate our farmers, ranchers and other food producers. American farmers are more productive and efficient than ever before. According to the Texas Farm Bureau, each producer feeds 155 people in the U.S. and abroad. In 1960, the average farmer fed 46 people.

Our farmers and ranchers are responsible for providing us with the most abundant, most affordable and safest food supply in the world. The Texas agriculture industry employs one in seven working Texans and brings in, on average, more than $100 billion each year to the economy of our great state. I ask all Texans to take time and thank our farmers and ranchers by buying products from right here in the Lone Star State, and choosing those with the GO TEXAN mark.

 

It can be easy to take agriculture for granted in America, because our food is readily accessible and safe. For this, we are extremely fortunate, which gives us even more reason to recognize those who make it possible.

To our Texas farming and ranching families, I send my thanks and salute you for the hard work and commitment you put in each and every day to ensure we have food available whenever it’s time to eat.