# Agriculture in Texas

Texas has the most farms of all United States both in terms of number and size. Agriculture is a major contributor to the economy of Texas and is the primary land use in the state. It is the country's leading producer of livestock. Wine production in Texas is significant, although small by global standards. The state is a major producer of rice as well as the top producer of cotton in the US.

## History

Maize agriculture began on the Great Plains by AD 900, initiating the Southern Plains villagers period of western Oklahoma and Texas. It probably came about as an extension westward and northward of the Caddoan cultures of eastern Texas. The Plains Village culture consisted of hamlets and semi-permanent villages along major rivers such as the Red, Washita, and Canadian. Subsistence was a combination of agriculture and hunting. A drying climatic trend beginning AD 1000 or 1100 may have tipped the subsistence scale more toward hunting and less toward a dependence upon agriculture. The Antelope Creek Phase of Plains villagers, dated from AD 1200 to 1450 in the Texas panhandle was influenced by the Southwestern Pueblo people of the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico. The historic descendants of the Southern Plains villagers are possibly the Wichita and Pawnee Indians.
Staples of indigenous Texan agriculture which remain important in the 21st century are corn, beans, squash, pecans, and prickly pear.
Cultivation of mung bean here began during World War II when a Chinese native by the name of Henry Huie – who worked as a U.S. Army cook – planted the staple crop in the clay plains near Vernon.

## Livestock

Texas leads the nation in number of cattle, usually exceeding 16 million head. The sprawling 320,000 deeded acres (130,000 ha) La Escalera Ranch, located 20 miles (32 km) south of Fort Stockton, is one of the largest cattle ranches in the Southwestern United States.
Texas leads nationally in production of sheep and goat products.

## Cereal

Texas is a leader in cereal crop production. Three counties in the state—Colorado, Wharton, and Matagorda—take advantage of water from the Lower Colorado River Authority to grow rice and are responsible for about 5% of annual U.S. rice production.

### Rice
## Fruit

The Rio Grande valley is one of the best areas for the cultivation of grapefruit. Early varieties like the Duncan had many seeds and pale flesh, but in the 1880s citrus growers in Texas and Florida discovered pink-fleshed seedless grapefruit mutations like the Ruby Red, which along with red-fleshed varieties like the Rio Red and Star Ruby are preferred varieties for modern commercial production. Phomopsis stem-end rot is a common problem in grapefruit here.$^{:436}$ Burger and Davis found in 1982 that etaconazole and imazalil are effective against the post-harvest effects if Phomopsis has already occurred pre-harvest in Texas groves.$^{:437}$
Grapes are a common crop in some parts of Texas. Pierce's Disease is a common problem in the East and South. From 1970 to 1996, PD was unknown outside of the southern part of the state. Though thought to be impossible, in 1996 suddenly many vineyards were heavily hit in north central Texas and some were wiped out completely. PD resistance is important here due to PD's prevalence. Some areas suffer from Cotton root rot of many crops, including grape. It is so associated with this state that it is also called Texas root rot.
In the 1990s strawberry acres had greatly increased especially around Poteet, however by 2004 imported strawberries had competed almost all strawberry production out of the state.
Texas is also a large producer of cantaloupes.

### Wine

Texas has a long history of wine production. The sunny and dry climate of the major winemaking regions in the state have drawn comparison to Portuguese wines, in addition to other regions in Europe like Spain, France, and Italy. Some of the earliest recorded Texas wines were produced by Spanish missionaries in the 1650s near El Paso. Texas ranked as the fifth largest wine producing state by 2019.

## Vegetables

Texas and Arkansas are among the higher producers of spinach in North America and form the eastern limit of large scale commercial production.$^{:3}$ Major spinach pests here include Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Pegomya spp., and Circulifer tenellus (Baker).$^{:3}$
Texas is the westernmost limit of commercial okra production.$^{:5}$ Pests include the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta (Buren)), the southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula (Linnaeus)), and leaffooted bugs (various Leptoglossus spp.).$^{:5}$
Texas is one of the largest producers of onions.$^{:5}$ Production here suffers from onion thrips (Thrips tabaci (Lindeman)) and onion maggots (Delia antiqua (Meigen)).$^{:5}$
Texas is one of the major growers of watermelons.$^{:5}$ Whiteflies and aphids commonly vector Cucurbit viruses here.$^{:5}$ Texas A&M AgriLife Extension provides commercial production guides for both seeded and seedless. For seeded varieties they recommend Allsweet, Black Diamond, Bush Sugar Baby, Calhoun Grey, Charleston Gray, Crimson Sweet, Crimson Tide, Dixielee, Golden Crown, Jubilee, Mickylee, Minilee, Mirage, OrangeGlo, Prince Charles, Royal Jubilee, Tendersweet, and Yellow Doll; while for seedless varieties, Gem Dandy, Matrix, Summersweet 5244, Tiffany, and Tri-X 313. In both, common diseases are Alternaria, Downy Mildew, Fusarium Wilt, Gummy Stem Blight, nematodes, Powdery Mildew, and various viruses. Common insect pests are aphids, armyworm (beet armyworm and fall armyworm), Cabbage Looper, cutworm, various leafminers, various mites, thrips, webworm, and various whiteflies. AgriLife also makes recommendations for fungicide, insecticide, and herbicide control of all these in this crop, and for common weeds.
AgriLife provides many other commercial grower guides: asparagus, green/snap bean, pinto bean, table beet, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe/muskmelon, carrot, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, cilantro, collards/kale, pickling cucumber, slicing cucumber, eggplant, garlic, honeydew, melon, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, okra, onion, parsley, bell pepper, jalapeño, potato, pumpkin, radish, Southern pea/cowpea, spinach, squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, Swiss chard, tomato, and turnip.

## Fiber

Texas is 'king of cotton,' leading the nation in cotton production, its leading crop and second-most-valuable farm product.

## Pests

Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) are an invasive agricultural pest here.
Although the Asian cockroach (Blattella asahinai (Mizukubo)) is a widespread invasive species here it inflicts only minor damage on horticulturals.$^{:55}$ It also serves as an egg predator of more pestiferous insects, including corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea (Boddie)) and beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)).$^{:55}$ In southern counties the roach is one of the most numerous egg predators, in row crops at ~50 roaches per metre (15/ft).$^{:56–67}$ The Surinam cockroach (Pycnoscelus surinamensis) is not proven to be a major pest but data is lacking.$^{:57}$ It should not be confused with the Indian cockroach (P. indica) which does not occur here.$^{:57}$
Flea beetles, specifically the redheaded (Systena frontalis (Fabricius)) and Smartweed (S. hudsonias) are common in the east but rarely found to the west of there.$^{:78–79}$ They are voracious, polyphagous herbivores of both crops and weeds.$^{:78–79}$ Due to their affinity for weeds as well, crop protection must include weed management.$^{:79}$ The Southern tobacco flea beetle (Epitrix fasciata (Blatchley)) is found along the Gulf Coast.$^{:83}$