Jim Hightower

Austin | Government Official, Author, Activist

Mr. Hightower has been a long-time advocate of agricultural reform, co-founding and running the Agribusiness Accountability Project from 1970 to 1975, writing books titled Eat Your Heart Out and Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times explaining his concerns, and holding the elected post of commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) for two terms (1983-91). While at the TDA, he was noted for introducing programs for high-efficiency irrigation, organic and alternative crops, pesticide regulation, farmworker protection, and Texas produce marketing. Mr. Hightower has also been an advocate of grassroots political reform through editing the commentary bi-weekly Texas Observer in the 1970s and more recently writing numerous books (There’s Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos and If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They Would Have Given Us Candidates), distributing a newsletter called the Hightower Lowdown, syndicating a newspaper column, and broadcasting a program known as Hightower Radio through some 60 commercial and public stations.