[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 182 (Monday, December 7, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE TEXAS AGRILIFE RESEARCH AND EXTENSION CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 7, 2009

  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, for 100 years, scientists at the 
Research and Extension Center in Beaumont, Texas, have worked to 
provide economic security to agricultural producers in southeast Texas. 
The center was created by the Texas legislature in 1909, and was 
charged with developing rice production and management programs for the 
Texas upper gulf coast. Today the center occupies ca. 960 acres near 
Beaumont, 113 acres in Eagle Lake, and 18 acres near Ganado, and is 1 
of 13 research and extension centers affiliated with the Texas A&M 
University System and Texas AgriLife Research, the State's premier 
research agency in agriculture, natural resources, and the life 
sciences.
  The Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont is the 
preeminent center in developing high quality, high yielding rice 
varieties, economically competitive and environmentally sustainable 
rice production and management systems, rice water conservation 
programs, cellulosic bioenergy crop production systems, and cutting-
edge internet-based crop, pest, and environmental resource management 
decision programs and databases, providing economic well being to 
thousands of families in southeast Texas.
  The center scientists work extremely closely with Texas rice 
producers and rice producers across the U.S., and maintain research 
programs with scientists from across Texas and from California, 
Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, and Mississippi. Current 
international research partners include scientists from Australia, 
Brazil, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, South Korea, and Sri 
Lanka, which has lead to the development of economically competitive 
and environmentally sound management systems that benefit Texas, the 
U.S., and the world.
  The Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont is a 
showcase of agricultural and environmental research in the Upper Gulf 
Coast and looks forward to serving the needs of Texas, the Nation, and 
the world into the next century.

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