The head of the state's top food agency served up information on a smorgasbord of topics Tuesday as the lunch speaker at the Big Country Wheat Conference.

The unifying theme of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples' talk was his confidence in Texas agriculture's readiness to meet its challenges, both present and future.

He briefed the crowd of area wheat farmers and others involved in agriculture-related business about some of the responsibilities of his agency and how it will tackle some of its challenges.

Staples said the Agriculture Department seeks to educate Texans, in town and country, about proper nutrition.

"Texas has the sixth highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation," Staples said. In many other fields, he said, he likes to see Texas ranked first, but "I don't think that's a category that we need to be No. 1 in."

The commissioner said he will seek additional resources from the Texas Legislature in its 2009 regular session for beefed-up enforcement at the state's roadside inspection stations that the Agriculture Department and the Department of Public Safety operate.

Texans have an interest in keeping agricultural pests out of the state and ensuring that other unwanted items don't make it in, either.

The former East Texas legislator said he was saddened to see, on a trade visit to Cuba, how communism has devastated that island's economy. The country imports $2 billion of food and other agricultural products annually, and Staples said he would like to see Texas get a bigger slice of that pie.

The daylong conference featured several sessions on the business of farming and others on specific topics of wheat culture, including variety selection, fertilization and battling the insects that beset wheat crops.

The session in the Taylor County Expo Center's Big Country Hall took place against the backdrop of generous late-summer rains providing plentiful soil moisture to boost the 2008-09 wheat crop to a robust start.