Agriculture
Congressman Gonzalez is proud to represent a thriving agricultural community. The 34th District of Texas is home to the King Ranch and a diverse array of produce, specialty crops, and livestock operations. The district is known for its citrus, cotton, sugarcane, sorghum, and cattle ranching operations.
Congressman Gonzalez has a proven record of supporting agricultural research, trade assistance, and robust crop insurance and disaster assistance programs that offer farmers and ranchers the resources to succeed.
He understands the importance of protecting and improving farmers and ranchers' safety net systems and is dedicated to elevating the concerns and priorities of South Texas agriculture producers in Washington, D.C. Congressman Gonzalez supports increasing market access for all American agricultural products and efforts to strengthen our food supply chain and economy while providing regulatory certainty to agriculture producers.
Since being elected to Congress in 2016, Congressman Gonzalez has shepherded over $156 million in funding for our South Texas agricultural industry.
More on Agriculture
WASHINGTON—Congressmen Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and Bruce Poliquin (ME-02) introduced H.R. 5654, the VAWA Protections for Rural Women Act of 2018, that will add the Rural Housing Voucher program to the list of covered housing programs under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This is another crucial step toward protecting victims of domestic violence from homelessness.
More efforts are being made to ensure the longevity of citrus, not only in the Rio Grande Valley, but across the nation.
"The citrus industry is a very important part of our economy and provides a lot of jobs for South Texas," said Congressman Vicente Gonzalez.
On Wednesday, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez announced record-level funding to combat the citrus greening disease. In total, the funding would add up to more than $67 million.
The citrus greening disease has affected citrus farmers in the RGV, like Jimmy Pawlik.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) announced that the fiscal year 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act funded critical USDA programs that help to combat Citrus Greening Disease at all-time high levels. The bill appropriated $10.5 and $57 million for the Huanglongbing Multiagency Coordination Group (HLB-MAC) and the Citrus Health Response Program (CHRP) respectively.
WASHINGTON— Congressmen Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), and Filemon Vela (TX-34) announced today that they helped secure $97.5 million in the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Omnibus Appropriations bill for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Cattle Health Program, that includes $5 million specifically for research and scientific tools to eradicate cattle fever tick.
Environmental protections for wildlife at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near the border in South Texas are also safeguarding one of the U.S. beef industry's worst enemies: the cattle fever tick.
WASHINGTON— Congressmen Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and Jodey Arrington (TX-19) spearheaded a bipartisan, bicameral letter urging Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, to take an active role in existing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) efforts to eradicate the cattle fever tick outbreak in South and Central Texas. Specifically, the letter requests that the U.S.
WASHINGTON— Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) released the following statement regarding the potential construction of a fence at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.
"I am concerned by recent reports about plans to construct a border fence through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge – one of our country's most precious refuges," said Congressman Gonzalez.
LIVE OAK COUNTY – Local producers who are on the front lines of the ongoing cattle fever tick eradication program here now have an ally in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-15), who was elected in November to succeed former Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, was the guest speaker at Thursday's lunch meeting of the Live Oak County chapter of the Texas Farm Bureau. Gonzalez said that while the federal budget for fever-tick eradication efforts has been increased from $9 million to $12 million, more is needed.
WASHINGTON— Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) issued the following statement regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiating objectives outlined by the United States Trade Representative.
"For more than 20 years, businesses and communities in South Texas have flourished under the deal, and NAFTA remains an important economic driver for our local economy," Congressman Gonzalez said.
GEORGE WEST, TX— Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) joined thirty members of the Texas Farm Bureau at the Live Oak County Fairgrounds in George West on Wednesday to discuss the cattle fever tick outbreak and other issues important to South Texas farmers and ranchers. Texas Farm Bureau State Director, Zack Yanta, of Karnes County in the congressman's district, introduced Congressman Gonzalez before the group.