So why does that matter? What does that have to do with advocacy? Consider the fact that there are more state representatives and state senators in Greater Houston than there are west of Interstate Highway 35. Assuming there is one owner for each farm or ranch, it is accurate to say that the working lands of Texas are held by less than 1% of our population. At the same time, our state population is around 27 million people. An average of 1,000 farms or ranches per county seems like a realistic figure. But when you think about Texas having 254 counties, and that there are several with either zero agricultural working lands (think Dallas County) or on the other end of the spectrum just a few owners of large tracts (think Kleberg and Kenedy Counties), that number becomes more reasonable. When I first heard that statistic, I was skeptical. According to Texas A&M University Institute for Renewal Natural Resources, there are about 250,000 working farms and ranches here in Texas. Alarmingly, those lands are owned by less than 1% of our population. Meanwhile, the working agricultural lands of Texas (farms and ranches) count for over 80% of our state’s land mass. Today, the state’s population is approximately 85% urban.
As our state’s economy develops, demographics shift, and agricultural practices become more efficient, our population becomes more and more centralized in urban areas.
Therefore, the vast majority of our open spaces are held in private ownership. Texas is a private property state, given our unique history as an independent republic before joining the United States. The Massive Urban-Rural Imbalance in Texas Article by DAVID YEATES, TWA Chief Executive OfficerĪnyone who has heard me speak publicly on natural resource conservation in Texas knows that I invariably bring the discussion around to the enormous urban/rural imbalance that we find ourselves in here in our great state.
0 kommentar(er)
