Texas Table Top—Celebrating the foods, places and people of the Lone Star State.

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About Gary Joiner

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So far Gary Joiner has created 8 blog entries.

What’s in a Secretary of Agriculture?

By Gary Joiner Speculation on the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture continues to percolate. America’s farmers and ranchers are highly interested in the nomination by President-elect Donald Trump. Consumers should be interested, too. The next Secretary of Agriculture arrives in office at a critical time. Net cash farm income and net farm income are down [...]

The importance of land values

By Gary Joiner Land values haven’t fared well across the U.S. compared to a year ago. Analysts say the situation in Texas is better than in most states, but increases in land values in 2016 are less than those of recent years. Double-digit increases have been replaced by growth of only 2.75 percent. Pastureland values [...]

Consumer trust vs. skepticism

By Gary Joiner Modern attitudes toward agriculture are interesting. And challenging. You wonder if farmers and ranchers are trustworthy? Yes, they are! About 75 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion toward farmers and ranchers, according to a recent survey. What about the way they farm or ranch? Not so much. Only 42 percent view [...]

Field motivation

By Gary Joiner More studies point to abundant opportunities in agriculture. The field is bright with job prospects. For some students, it’s the field—the actual crop field—that motivates their career pursuits in agriculture. At last week’s Latinos in Agriculture Leaders Conference in Grapevine, Alejandra Padilla described how her experience as a migrant worker with her [...]

Innovation–one conversation at a time

By Gary Joiner It’s interesting how a conversation between two people can impact thousands. It was 1971. A personal friend of Gary Vermeer told him that he intended to sell his cow-calf business. The friend was tired of the hassles of baling hay and finding dependable hired hands to help put up the square bales. [...]