Return to TFB Main Page
Return to Texas Agriculture Archive

May 18, 2001

Summer commodity
conferences set

Texas Farm Bureau is taking a new approach for the 2001 Summer Commodity Conference. Instead of one meeting in a centralized location, the state's largest farm organization is splitting the annual conference into three separate events.

The first will be held at the Victoria Holiday Inn May 31-June 1. The second conference will be in Nacogdoches at the Fredonia Hotel June 18-19. The third conference will be held July 12-13 at the Lubbock Sheraton 4 Points.

Although the agenda for the two-day conferences is the same for each, the commodities and tours at each conference will be different. Day One begins with registration from noon to 1 p.m., followed by a tour from 1 to 5:30 p.m., and a dinner and district policy development meeting from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Day Two at each of the conferences will feature a continental breakfast and general session from 7 to 8 a.m., commodity sessions from 8 to 11 a.m., commodity advisory committee meetings from 11 to 11:45 a.m., and a board/advisory committee luncheon and reports from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Commodities featured at the Victoria meeting include citrus, wildlife, beef cattle, rice/soybeans, sheep/goat and horticulture crops. Participants have a choice of one of three tours in Victoria: 1) rice production, rice processing and a visit to Sklar Farms (a family beef cattle, corn and sorghum operation); 2) the Bob McCan Ranch (a family cow/calf operation that uses controlled burning to control brush and wildlife production), and a visit to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge; 3) Victoria County FB President Mark Weinberg's vegetable operation, a look at new mechanical harvesting equipment for fresh sweet corn, and a hatchery for redfish to resupply the Gulf of Mexico.

The Nacogdoches meeting will feature forestry, poultry, dairy, horse, ratite, hay/forage and nursery/greenhouse. Tours scheduled for Nacog-doches include; 1) the Bar B Ranch (a large breeding horse operation), the East Texas Plant Materials Center (conducts research on grasses, forbs, trees and shrubs for conservation and production practices), and East Texas hay production; 2) the Powell Plant Farm (a full scale operation with large greenhouses, automatic sprinklers, soil delivery systems, irrigation and seeding equipment), and a large blueberry operation with production designed for retail sales; and 3) the Tyson chicken hatchery (main supplier for poultry operations in East Texas), the International Paper Oriented Strand Board Plant (produces a product similar to plywood), the CAL-TEX Lumber Mill (uses laser and computer technologies to cut lumber with curve sawing of crooked logs), and the Pilgrim Pride Plant (a modern processing plant for poultry).

Commodities featured at the Lubbock meeting include cotton, feed grains, wheat, swine and peanuts. Tours scheduled for Lubbock include: 1) TFB Cotton Chairman Doug Hlaverty's farm (cotton and sunflowers using drip irrigation and LEPA center pivots), Pedro's Tamales (a local tamale operation using local grain products), and the International Textile Mill (conducts research on different grades and types of cotton, also manufactures socks from local cotton); 2) the Plains/Yazoo Cotton Oil Mill (main cottonseed mill in the Panhandle) and the USDA Plant Stress Lab (research work on affects of drought conditions on plants and development of plants to withstand drought conditions); and 3) Breedlove Dehydration Center (food distribution center for low income families and charitable organizations that uses local produce donated by farmers and food stores), and the Texas Tech Agriculture Farm (conducts ongoing research and includes a sustainable agriculture project involving the rotation of cotton, grass and cattle, free ranging swine and cattle feeding).

For more information or to make reservations for any of the conferences contact Betsy Simon, Travel Services Department, Texas Farm Bureau, P.O. Box 2689, Waco, Tex. 76702-2689, or phone 1-800-537-3628.