Agriculture Industry Grows Texas Farms, ranches cultivate the state's economy
October 2022
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A REVIEW OF THE TEXAS ECONOMY
industrySeven homegrown holiday staples boosting Texas’ economy
Raise a glass to celebrate local farmers, ranchers and wildlife
December 2024 | By Kelly Langford
With Texas’ agricultural diversity, is it any wonder that you can find your tree, fix a feast and drink a toast all featuring goods hailing from the Lone Star State? Consumers can outfit their homes and tables with holiday cheer by supporting Texas’ agricultural commodities, valued at more than $32 billion a year. Although our wide-open spaces are home to more than 230,000 farms and ranches covering 125.5 million acres, the most in the nation, we’re losing one a week, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
As state and rural leaders look to resolve the sector’s challenges, we’ve rounded up a list of holiday essentials that are grown in Texas.
Photo credit: Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association
Lone Star trees shine bright at Christmas
The American Christmas Tree Association says nearly all of us will decorate a tree this holiday season, but only 22 percent will opt for a real one. Texans buy about 4 million live Christmas trees each year; while many are imported from other states, “choose-and-cut” tree farms have sprouted up around Texas over the past few decades, with farmers offering locally grown varieties of pine, cedar and cypress.
Texas’ Christmas tree industry now ranks fourth in the nation. Economists at the Texas A&M Forest Service have been keeping an eye on the economic impact of this growing industry, issuing a report last year that found Christmas tree farms contribute $714 million to Texas’ economy and support nearly 6,000 jobs annually. But bolstering local business isn’t the only good reason to take a whack at a live tree: Artificial evergreens pose long-term hazards as they crowd our landfills, while forests benefit our environment. That’s a gift that keeps on giving.
Texans are nuts for homegrown pecans
Pecans are crucial ingredients, snacks or gifts throughout the holidays, and Texans have had a long love affair with the nut, which is native to 152 of our 254 counties. To mark that affection, state leaders named the pecan Texas’ official tree in 1919 and did it again eight years later for good measure. In 2013, legislators sweetened the pot by pronouncing pecan pie as the state’s official pie. The nuts have a long history as a commercial industry here: Records show pecans were exported from Texas ports as early as 1850, according to the Texas Handbook Online. The first commercial pecan orchard opened in San Saba in 1888, and the area is now known as the “Pecan Capital of the World.” A little further south, Seguin claims the title of “Pecan Capital of Texas.”
Today, Texas is considered the top producer of native varieties and consistently ranks in the top four in the U.S. for hybrid nuts, depending on the year. In a good season, Texas farmers can reap 50 million pounds, but weather is a perennial challenge. In 2023, they harvested more than 30 million pounds of pecans, valued at about $47 million, and this year’s crop is expected to be similar.
Photo credit: Texas Pecan Growers Association
Local farms grow great gourds
When shopping for pumpkins each year, check for stickers that say, “Texas grown” to support local farmers. Texas consistently ranks as a top U.S. pumpkin producer, with harvests valued among the top six states. Texas farmers harvested more than 100 million pounds in 2020, a haul worth around $26 million.
The pumpkins that grow in Texas typically sell for higher prices than the varieties used in canning, where Illinois ranks first in the nation. Our homegrown gourds are ideal for jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin patch photo ops and other festive displays. They’re even fun pumpkin-smashing animal enrichment at zoos. Their vines thrive in the drier climates of West and South Texas, and the Panhandle town of Floydada has been celebrated as the Pumpkin Capital of Texas — and the U.S. — since the 1980s.
Texas turkeys run wild
When it comes to the store-bought birds gracing holiday tables, most were raised in Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas and other non-Texas places, which produce about 210 million birds worth almost $7 billion annually. The feather in Texas’ cap, however, is that we are home to the nation’s largest population of wild turkeys and an impressive 100-year conservation success story. These birds were nearly wiped out from hunting during the late 1800s. By 1919, state leaders had implemented rehabilitation and conservation efforts by setting bag limits and hiring game wardens to enforce the rules. Today, some 586,000 wild turkeys roam the state, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
While hunters are expected to harvest 30,000 to 35,000 of the gobblers during the 2024-2025 hunting seasons, Texas is still serious about monitoring and protecting wild turkey populations. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission recently approved mandatory reporting statewide, requiring this season’s hunters to report their bag count on the TPWD website or through the Texas Hunt & Fish App. Hunting contributes $1.7 billion to the Texas economy, according to a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Texas is No. 1 in the nation by a long shot.
Photo credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Sweet potatoes for every season
Sweet potatoes have grown into a year-round dining staple. A generation or two ago, the holidays might have been the only season some households served the vegetable, and each family seemed to have a favorite way to fix them: candied, casseroled or baked in a pie.
But word got out about these tasty tubers: They’re loaded with vitamins A and C, potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Sweet potatoes, along with other nutrient-dense plants like spinach, kale, ginseng and various fresh herbs, have been growing in popularity.
The USDA reports Texas farmers raised 1,490 acres of sweet potatoes in 2022, making Texas the eighth-top producer in the U.S. for this growing market. A cousin to the Morning Glory, their vines thrive in the sandy loam soil of Van Zandt County, where the majority of Texas sweet potatoes are grown.
Cheese is the season’s belle of the ball
Americans are drinking less milk as a beverage these days, but we’re consuming more dairy through cheeses, butter and whipped cream — all holiday favorites of the lactose tolerant. Indeed, the “growing demand for cheese has been one of the most important forces shaping the U.S. dairy industry,” according to the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Texas has grown into the nation’s fourth-largest dairy producer, and it also has experienced a rise in cheese processing facilities, with new locations opening or under construction in Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock and San Antonio. Texas’ dairy industry is expected to continue its upward trajectory over the next five years, particularly in the Panhandle, home to 80 percent of production.
Last year, Texas farmers produced nearly 16.6 billion pounds of milk, an amount valued at about $3.4 billion. The Texas Department of Agriculture says dairy contributes roughly $50 billion to economic activity in the state, and despite challenges like water shortages, wildfires and disease, it remains one of Texas’ top three agricultural products behind beef and poultry.
Let’s dream of a white Christmas — or red or rosé
Texas’ wine industry ranks No. 5 in the nation and soon may fill the No. 2 spot, according to Texas A&M AgriLife. Wineries have blossomed throughout Texas, and commercial vineyards now grow in more than half of the state’s 254 counties with 800 wineries producing 70 different grape varieties. Texas A&M’s viticulturists say 2024 has been a very good year for Texas grapes, with earlier harvests, high quality and high yields.
On a national level, the Texas Hill Country has been designated as the third-largest American Viticultural Area, and its 1,000 vineyard acres comprise a tourism hub with wineries that host 1 million tourists each year. Statewide, the industry contributes $20.35 billion to the economy, supports more than 100,000 jobs and brings $1 billion in taxes to localities.
Cheers to that!