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Texas' water infrastructure is broken, jeopardizing quality and supply for a growing state

On a daily basis, water managers in cities across the state move from crisis to crisis hoping to keep the water flowing to residents.

New state legislation could assist Crossroads farmers, ranchers

A new slate of state legislation that either has become law, or is one step away from doing so, could directly impact Crossroads farmers and ranchers, according to local experts.

Right to farm protections pass Texas House, move to Senate

The Texas House of Representatives passed a proposed right to farm constitutional amendment and two right to farm bills.

Texas lawmakers propose historic investments to broadband and water infrastructure — but voters will have the last word

If passed during this legislative session, this would be the state’s biggest investment in broadband, but some local officials question whether it would make the service more affordable in areas with few providers.

Texas experiences 11th driest year

This year was the 11th driest Texas has experienced in the last 128 years, and the worst drought since 2011.

Texas ag agency says climate change threatens state’s food supply

A new Texas Department of Agriculture report also points to other factors that are making it harder for Texans to access and afford food, including wages falling behind rising costs of living.

Farmers face a higher risk of suicide. The Texas Agriculture Department wants $500,000 a year to change that.

The department’s helpline is less than a year old. But advocates hope state lawmakers fully fund it as farmers and ranchers continue to face hard economic times and isolation.

A new bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers wants to highlight the state’s fragile water infrastructure

So far there has been an average of six boil-water notices a day across Texas in 2023.

Rural Texas was meant to get 10% of state bonds for water projects. It's getting less than 1%.

Rural Texas communities often don’t have the resources, technical experience, or ability to take on large amounts of debt to pursue state funds for water supply and quality projects. So, many simply don’t apply.

North Texas Farmer Pushing Back Against Farmers Branch Rule Regarding Grass Height

A farmer contends the city of Farmers Branch is effectively pushing him out over a disagreement on whether what he harvests is a crop, or just a nuisance. The undeveloped lots full of high grass that James Lockridge mows, dries and rolls into 1,500-pound round bales, provides hay for cattle and horses, he says.

Wells are running dry in drought-weary Southwest as foreign-owned farms guzzle water to feed cattle overseas

Workers with the water district in Wenden, Arizona, saw something remarkable last year as they slowly lowered a camera into the drought-stricken town’s well: The water was moving. But the aquifer which sits below the small desert town in the southwestern part of the state is not a river; it’s a massive, underground reservoir which stores water built up over thousands of years. And that water is almost always still. Gary Saiter, a longtime resident and head of the Wenden Water Improvement District, said the water was moving because it was being pumped rapidly out of the ground by a neighboring well belonging to Al Dahra, a United Arab Emirates-based company farming alfalfa in the Southwest.

CNN Exclusive: FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications

Since at least 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a high-profile regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stonewalled what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities.

Texas classrooms can ‘farm’ from school with TFB in spring 2023

Classrooms across Texas are once again invited to virtually visit farms and ranches next spring through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.

Extreme weather could push food prices even higher

Weather has long been a fickle farmhand, devastating fields one year while delivering bountiful harvests the next.

Lawmakers ask for review of foreign ownership of U.S. farmland

U.S. House Republicans are calling for a federal investigation into foreign ownership and investment in U.S. agricultural land.