The mission statement of Texas Farm Bureau is to be the “Voice of Texas agriculture.” The vision of Texas Farm Bureau is “to benefit all Texans through promotion of a prosperous agriculture for a viable, long-term domestic source of food, fiber and fuel.”

Farm Bureau is a grassroots organization that offers members the opportunity to express ideas that develop into policies at the county, state and national conventions.

Among the goals of Farm Bureau, those that relate to property rights, agricultural water rights and humane animal treatment have received the most attention recently.

Texas Farm Bureau has been working for several years to get eminent domain reform measures through the state legislature, but those efforts were vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Proposition 11, which prohibits the government from acquiring land for non-public use, passed last year but needs additional protections that offer fair market value to landowners, compensate landowners for lost access to their property, and that give them the right to repurchase land not used for condemning purposes.

Texans need eminent domain reform, and we must remind state senators and representatives of the importance of the issue to all Texans.

Concerning water rights, the courts have always maintained two types of rights. Surface water -- which includes most rivers, lakes and streams -- is owned by the state but can be used by landowners with state permission. Groundwater -- found beneath the surface -- has always belonged to the landowner.

Some maintain that the water beneath the ground is not yours until it has been physically captured.

Farm Bureau’s position is that water beneath the ground is a property right in itself.

Edwards Aquifer Authority argues that “landowners have no vested right in the groundwater.”

If they prevail with the argument, EAA and groundwater districts will have no restrictions on how they allocate rights to pump groundwater.

Texans should encourage the Texas Supreme Court to uphold the laws protecting our groundwater. This relates more to how the right to capture is allocated to property owners, not whether the resource can be regulated.

Farm Bureau supports locally protected groundwater conservation districts but opposes state control over groundwater and recognizes the need to protect resources.

Another concern for Farm Bureau has to do with animal cruelty and bad publicity from animal rights groups. Two California congressmen have introduced legislation in the U.S. House that would bring about arbitrary “humane” standards for food/animal production with no input from veterinarians or livestock producers. It is based on the presumption that farm animals are not treated humanely.

Livestock producers (cattle, swine, sheep and poultry) recognize that in order to be productive, their livestock need to be well cared for and treated well.

This proposed legislation, if passed, would no doubt bring added costs to producers who will be forced to make operational changes to comply with new regulations. Thus, costs to the consumers would increase without ensuring the safety of food products.

Being from an agricultural area, we understand what is involved in the production of food and fiber. Those from other parts of the country, however, do not always understand where our food comes from and how it is handled before it gets to the grocery store shelf.

Agriculture has always been concerned about environmental issues and good stewardship of the land. As agriculturists, we should strive to be an effective voice, promoting our values in producing food and fiber for national and world consumption as our numbers grow smaller.

Now, as never before, we need to attract innovators in all phases of the agricultural industry -- from producers to processors, to the marketplace, to consumers and uses of byproducts in between.

America is still the Land of Opportunity.