J Allen Carnes, proprietor of Winter Garden Produce in Uvalde, TX, has always walked the walk, not just talked the talk. Carnes grew up in a farming family and he has continued the tradition. But now he is stepping up his commitment to the industry, announcing Sept. 5 that he hopes to serve the state of Texas as its next commissioner of agriculture.

Carnes has been mayor of Uvalde since 2012 and has served in several state and national trade organizations; president of the Texas Vegetable Association, board member of the Texas Produce Association, Texas representative for National Council of Ag Employers and the United Fresh Governmental Relational Council. Knowing farming from the inside-out, he wants to take his experience to Austin to fill the seat being vacated by current Commissioner of Agriculture Todd Staples.

Carnes is busy enough at Winter Garden this time of year, with the fall and winter seasons approaching, but now he is even more swamped with campaign activities keeping him running around the clock.

“We are out shaking hands already” even though the primary for the commissioner’s race is not until March, Carnes said.

As a grower and business owner himself, Carnes well knows the challenges and opportunities for Texas agriculture.

“The immediate priority for Texas is keeping the atmosphere that Texas has always had — we’re one of the only places in the world that can say we can sustain ourselves. The population of Texas will double over the next few decades and strain some of our natural resources. We’re already seeing overreaches in areas by regulation of the federal government. We’ve got to make sure we keep the same mantra we always have,” Carnes said. “We’re lucky enough we’ve never been dependent on foreign food; we know what it’s like to be dependent on oil. Texas has the ability to produce for itself. We don’t — we have great trading relationships, but some of those come about because of what we do on the producing side in food and fiber.”

To keep Texas agriculture strong and make it even stronger, “There’s a whole host of issues you have to work on to make sure that is the case. Primarily it’s the water issue, first and foremost,” Carnes said. “Agriculture needs a significant spot at the table and somebody up front leading this issue and talking about what agriculture does for the state of Texas. It doesn’t matter if someone lives in downtown Houston or Uvalde, agriculture has a significant role in their lives and needs somebody bridging that gap between rural and urban.”

At Winter Garden’s farming operations, which primarily produce cabbage, broccoli and onions, “I know exactly what it’s like to have to cut back because of not having enough water. Because of some of the issues we’ve faced, we’ve had to narrow our focus and become even better at what we’ve always done, work on practices to make those tasks better rather than expanding into different crops,” Carnes said. “Our acreage on vegetables on the whole is down a little bit this year but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’ve seen yields the last couple of years in a better and better place.”

Winter Garden has made some recent improvements to its current system, “streamlining our processing and packing operation to provide a better product to our consumer. We’ve also streamlined our food-safety operations to make sure we’re providing a safe product. We’re just getting better and better at what we’re doing. Because of the water situation, we’re not adding much, just doing what we’ve always done and trying to make better use of what’s out there and the tools we have.”