Texas has millions of reasons to make meat lovers happy. According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, 4.69 million beef cows graze the Texas plains. That’s tops in the nation, more than twice as many as second-ranked Oklahoma, and nearly 14% of the U.S. total. The King Ranch between Brownsville and Corpus Christi, the country’s biggest cattle ranch, spans 825,000 acres —an area larger than Rhode Island — and boasts a cattle population of 35,000.

All that beef is opening opportunities for processors, and Producer Owned Beef — owned by cattle producers and operated by processing industry veterans — is seizing on the potential. Aided by support from both the state and Amarillo Economic Development Corp (AEDC), the nascent enterprise is building a $670 million processing facility in the Texas Panhandle. Upon expected completion in 2026, it is to employ nearly 1,600 workers and process at least 3,000 cattle a day. According to an economic impact report by the Perryman Group, the plant is to generate $1.27 billion in gross product each year and 12,863 jobs in the Amarillo/Panhandle area. 

For reasons such as those, AEDC and the state agreed to make significant investments in the project. AEDC granted the company more than 600 acres for the facility and incentives totaling $11.1 million. The Texas Enterprise Fund offered a grant of $12.2 million.

“The importance of Texas Enterprise Fund along with Amarillo EDC backing for this project cannot be overstated” said Casey Cameron, CEO of Producer Owned Beef. 

Further bolstering the Panhandle’s status as the heart of cattle raising country, Tyson Foods recently expanded its Amarillo beef processing plant to the tune of $200 million. The company says the investment will allow it to expand and upgrade operations and build a new well-being area for team members. Kevin Carter, AEDC’s executive director, said the expansion “solidifies Tyson’s position as a top economic driver in our community for years to come.”

Bringing Ag Indoors

An expanding crop of indoor farms across Texas offers a vivid illustration of how agriculture is advancing beyond the time-honored practice of planting, praying for favorable weather and harvesting out in the scorching heat. Florida-based PLANT-AS, a hydroponic produce provider that’s making massive investments in West Texas, describes its indoor grow operations as “modern data centers.” They’re supported by artificial intelligence. Data collected and processed via IBM’s blockchain-supported system, says a release, “is the foundation of a digital infrastructure model that will transform the global food supply chain.”

This is the new face of agriculture.
Photo: Getty Images/piranka

PLANT-AS is investing $1.1 billion to develop over 1,100 acres of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) in Amarillo and Lubbock. At full buildout, expected to unfold over a decade, the two indoor farms are to employ about 1,600 workers with a combined payroll of $80 million. The company says it uses 70% to 90% less water than traditional agriculture methods.

“The end-to-end impact PLANT-AS will have on existing food systems begins with the agricultural process and extends all the way through the consumer experience,” said Plant-AS Director of Global Brand Representation Sara Gaul. “We are thrilled to be a part of the economic growth in West Texas. Together, we are building infrastructure for the future.”

New York-based Bright Farms is set to become the second-largest employer in the Texas town of Lorena, just south of Waco on Interstate 35. The indoor lettuce grower expects to create 255 jobs with a Phase-One investment of $120 million.

Ag-tech startup Eden Green Technology recently broke ground on a $40 million expansion of the indoor lettuce farm it launched south of Fort Worth in 2022. The expansion is projected to triple production to more than 5 million pounds of produce annually as the Texas-based company gears up for nationwide growth over the next five years.

And Local Bounti, based in Montana, is commencing operations at a $25 million indoor farm for growing leafy greens east of Dallas. The company expects to generate about 200 direct and indirect jobs throughout Titus County.

Fields of Plenty

In all, Texas leads the nation with nearly 250,000 farms and ranches covering more than 125 million acres. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, 86% of the state is in some form of agricultural production. More than 95% of Texas farms and ranches are family-owned and operated, and one in seven working Texans is employed in something agriculture related. The economic impact of the Texas food and fiber sector ranges around $100 billion.

Photo: Getty Images

With its diverse climates and land, Texas supplies a wide variety of crops to markets in the United States and beyond. It’s the country’s top producer of watermelons and ranks second for carrots and pumpkins. The state is a major grower of citrus products, peppers, cabbages, cucumbers, mushrooms, pecans, peanuts and spinach.

And given all those cows, it should come as no surprise that Texas generally ranks among the top three states for milk and dairy production. In March, Walmart announced plans for a $350 million milk processing facility in the town of Robinson south of Waco. Slated to open in 2026, it is to bring 400 new jobs to McLellan County.

Products from the facility, Walmart says, will serve more than 750 Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs throughout the South, including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and parts of Arkansas and Mississippi.

“We’re excited,” said Bruce Heckman, vice president of Manufacturing at Walmart, “to be able to provide Texas and its surrounding states with high-quality milk sourced primarily from Texas dairy farmers.” 

After saving the Sacramento Kings and luring one of the nation’s top economic development leaders to the California state capital, what does a mayor do for an encore?

If you’re former NBA All-Star and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, you set your sights even higher.

After winning approval to build the new $507-million Golden 1 Center for the Kings and convincing Barry Broome to leave Phoenix behind for the challenge of selling Sacramento, the 49-year-old Johnson is embarking on a new mission: positioning Sacramento as the next Austin.

Skeptics may scoff, but for Johnson, the first African American mayor in Sacramento’s 165-year history, it can’t be any more challenging than all 6-foot-1 of him dunking a basketball over top of 7-footer Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon – a feat he accomplished to the astonishment of NBA fans in 1994.

As the long-time point guard of the Phoenix Suns, Johnson made an All-NBA career out of “posterizing” big men like the famed Houston Rockets’ center. Today, the Sacramento native makes his living trying to convince business leaders both in and outside the state of California that the Golden State’s capital city is not only on the rise; it is winning.

“This city went through a very difficult period back in 2008 when I was first elected mayor,” Johnson says. “We were having serious budget deficits, and we were one of the leading cities in the nation in foreclosures. The Great Recession hit us very hard.”

But the city did not stay down and defeated, he notes. “We have since stabilized our budget at the local level, and we have our first surplus in seven years,” the mayor says. “Our economy is growing once again, and Sacramento is now on a roll. We are continuing to change the mindset about what can be accomplished here. For far too long we were over-reliant on government jobs and real estate. That is not the case anymore.”

City Enters its Third Phase

Johnson says that the city has entered its “3.0 phase,” which he defines as the era in which Sacramento becomes “a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship.” He says that Greater Sacramento – a region of 2.4 million people in Northern California – is becoming a known leader in health care research, renewable energy and robotics.

“We want business leaders in other parts of the country to see Sacramento as the next cool city in America,” he says. “We are on our way toward competing with places likes Portland, Seattle, Denver and Austin. Our goal is nothing less than to become the next great American city.”

To accomplish that, the city must attain three goals, the mayor says:

• “We must build and develop our downtown.”
• “We must create employment centers in our urban core.”
• “We must build the city’s brand.”

Johnson says that “we want to be known as the easiest place to do business in California. We offer a low cost of living, we are the capital city of the state, and we are one of the most diverse places in the country. If you look at American cities on the move, we aspire to be one of them. We don’t want to be one of the best-kept secrets anymore.”

The mayor says that Sacramento’s world-class agricultural research at University of California at Davis “and our unparalleled food scene have put us on the map. We want more people to come visit us and come live here and work here so that they can take advantage of that.”

Applying lessons he learned as a player in the NBA, Johnson says he is a better political leader today because of his many years as a professional athlete. “When you play basketball, it is a contact sport,” he notes. “I did not realize when I first became mayor seven years ago that politics is also a contact sport. When you are a point guard, you have to articulate a goal to everyone on your team and then get them to buy into it. And you have to distribute the ball equally to your teammates. I have to do all of that now as mayor of Sacramento. Getting everyone to move in the same direction is something we had to do in order to secure the new arena for the Kings, and it is something we have to do every day to make this city better.”

Youth is Served in Sacramento

The one thing he wishes everyone knew about Sacramento, he says, is its abundance of youthful talent.

“Our workforce is younger than Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose,” says Johnson. “We have a higher percentage of millennials than San Francisco. One in three Sacramento residents speaks a second language. We are one of the most innovative and diverse cities in the country. It is a young and well-educated workforce. Any business executive who came here would see that and be more than pleased to hire them.”

What’s left to do? The mayor says that continued investment into infrastructure will pay the way for Sacramento to sustain its economic growth.

“All transportation hubs in Northern California go through our intermodal port,” he adds. “We are redeveloping our rail yard with all kinds of uses. The new Kaiser hospital and a Major League Soccer stadium are going up there; and UC Davis is building a third campus on that site. Another 1,000 housing units are being added to our downtown. Sacramento State University is expanding. Altogether, almost $4 billion in new development and improvements are occurring in our downtown. We are redefining our community, and it is time for the world to see it.”