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Farm and Ranch Show celebrates 25th anniversary

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  • Originally published October 26, 2009 at midnight, updated October 29, 2009 at 9:18 a.m.

The South Texas Farm & Ranch Show is proud to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The show was established in 1982 as a joint educational venture by Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Victoria County and Victoria Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee.

As time progressed, the show later became its own not-for-profit educational organization under the guidance of Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Victoria County, providing educational opportunities to farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses of Victoria and the Coastal Bend.

The show, held Wednesday and Thursday at the Victoria Community Center, 2905 E. North St., has more than 130 agricultural equipment and commodity related booths displaying their latest technological advancements, valued at up to $3 million. Since the show's beginning, more than 3,100 booths have been set up by exhibitors.

A remarkable feat, the show has also held more than 800 educational programs for agricultural clientele, with more than 80,000 in attendance at the programs and more than 100,000 attending the 25 shows.

Thinking back to all the unique agricultural educational opportunities in the past brings to mind events such as the bull and female sales; regional hay shows; regional soil testing programs; well water quality screening; garden expos; cattle fecal sample tests; pecan shows and ag waste pesticide collection programs to name a few.

Our 2009 show is no different, with more than 35 programs planned. See our Web site www.southtexasfarmandranchshow.com/ for a complete list.

Although agriculture has taken its hits with the drought and floods in the past, agriculture is big business in our part of the state. The South Texas Farm & Ranch Show has helped to build the agricultural enterprises in the Texas Coastal Bend, now totaling $1.4 billion in cash receipts to Coastal Bend farmers and ranchers. All tallied, our local ag industry has a statewide economic impact of $2.6 billion.

And we can't just educate today's farmers and ranchers. We must look to the future. Over the years, the show has educated our youth offering ag in the classroom, school ag tours, youth programs and Pasture-to-Pyramid programs teaching more than 7,500 youths about food and fiber production and proper nutrition. Some of them will be our next farmers and ranchers.

Hats off to show officials, too. In 1991 they gave their first agricultural youth scholarship. Since then, 85 youths in the Coastal Bend have received South Texas Farm & Ranch Show agricultural scholarships totaling $87,000.

With this news article, I'm inviting all farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses and members of the community to come to the South Texas Farm & Ranch Show Wednesday and Thursday to reflect on agriculture's remarkable and historic past and to celebrate its promising future. This show really does offer a pillar of higher education for our farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses and the general public as we look into the future for our food, fiber and quality of life. See you at the show.

Worms in Oaks

Besides armyworms in pastures, datana caterpillars have been found in live oaks recently. The worms grow up to 2 inches in length and can defoliate a live oak if left uncontrolled. Unfortunately, a live oak will not re-leaf until next March, so the infested tree will look basically dead without foliage.

The worms only have one life cycle but can cause considerable damage. The key for controlling the datana caterpillar is to scout your live oak trees weekly for small limbs that are void of leaves. Webs of this worm are minimal, if ever seen, so searching for areas void of leaves and finding the small colony of worms to treat is a must. Once found, spot spraying them and the immediate area.

I would definitely recommend using the safest product as the first choice, such as any of the Bt products or products with spinosad, which works wonders on controlling caterpillars and doesn't harm beneficial insects. There are many other general insecticidal products commonly available that will work equally well in controlling this fall pest.

Joe Janak is a Victoria County extension agent.


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