No state has more farms or more acres of farmland/ranchland than the state of Texas. 

With 247,000 farms on 126,000,000 millions acres, Texas has double the numbers of the next closest state in both of those categories. If you’ve ever been though Texas you know that those farms & ranches are spread over vast areas of land the land and  weather can be harsh depending on the part of the state you are in. 

This makes the economics of farming in Texas not for the faint of heart (or for those without deep pockets). Even though Texas has double the space & farms it typically places between 3rd & 5th among other states for agricultural receipts. It’s factors like this that have lead to the increased emptying out of parts of rural Texas. 

Known regularly as one of the fastest growing states over the past two decades, Texas’ rural counties have suffered some of the biggest percentage losses of population of just about any state. Parts of North Texas and the Panhandle have been hardest hit and it’s not uncommon to pass by ghost town after ghost town in certain sections. Especially those where oil & gas drilling haven’t created auxiliary jobs.