Setting the Record Straight; 'Agriculture Is Your Culture' Campaign Unveiled
To educate the general public on how Texas farmers and ranchers provide safe, quality food for the country, the Texas Department of Agriculture launched a new outreach campaign. The agency created the campaign in hopes of dispelling myths that the agriculture industry is cruel to animals and hurts the environment.
Through the "Agriculture is Your Culture" web site, visitors can view videos, read articles and learn facts about conservation practices, efficient use of natural resources, food inspection practices and agriculture's impact on daily life. Agriculture in the Lone Star State is a $100 billion industry that employs one in seven working Texans, department officials said.
"It's no accident that Americans enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world," said Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Farmers and ranchers contribute to amazing strides in life-saving medicine, research, education and other agriculture-dependent technologies, he said.
"Criticism aimed at agriculture is based largely on sensationalism, and this campaign sets the record straight with the facts," Staples said.
Through "Agriculture is Your Culture", he said consumers will learn how animal care and environmental conservation translate to safe food and sustainable natural resources. They also will learn how agriculture extends beyond the grocery store to contribute to the clothes in their closets, the aspirin in their medicine cabinets and the construction of their homes, among myriad other things.
"No one has a greater stake in caring for our environment and animals than the people who rely on them for their livelihood "" namely our farmers and ranchers," Staples said. "Not only are farmers and ranchers in the business of feeding and clothing our population, they also are in the business of providing for their own families and preserving our resources for future generations. The work of farmers and ranchers may not be in the spotlight, but I assure you it would be missed by every family in the nation if it ceased to exist."
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Editor's Note: For more information, click http://www.texasagriculture.gov/culture/
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