By Jennifer Dorsett

Have you ever taken one of those genealogy DNA tests and found you had a second cousin living just down the street?

Or, maybe, like me, you’ve lived someplace far away from all your relatives, and someone else took you in and “adopted” you. Now you consider them family.

Texas agriculture is kind of like that. We may be a diverse collection of farmers and ranchers, but at the end of the day, we’re all part of one big family.

Farmers and ranchers understand the stresses and challenges each other faces. They lift one another up, support each other and pitch in when times are tough.

Countless acts of service abound in agriculture.

Cows out in the road? A rancher driving by will put them back in if possible, or call for assistance and stay with the errant cattle until help arrives.

Have to go out of town and need someone to take care of your animals? Country neighbors help out all the time. It’s not because anyone feels obligated. It’s because it’s the right thing to do.

We routinely hear stories about farmers coming together to harvest a crop for a neighbor who has fallen ill or passed away. They don’t do it for the accolades. They do it because they know their neighbor would do the same for them if the situation were reversed.

Agriculture is more than just a set of individual farms and ranches. It’s a family, adopting each other into the fold, sharing successes and sorrow in equal measure.

And that family includes you and me—their consumers. So, welcome to the family.