Brookshire Grocery Company announced its second annual “Grower of the Year” honoree, Marc Green, of G-Mc Produce in Henderson.

The announcement came at a luncheon honoring around 50 local growers who supply the grocer with more than 15 million pounds of fresh produce for its 152 stores in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana last year.

Around 22 local growers from the three states who produce products from watermelons, peaches, berries and flowers attended the event.

U.S. Rep Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, spoke to the growers about government encroachment through agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, and regulations, such as the Clean Water Act, that hinder small farms and businesses.

Gohmert said regulations are used to control and restrict common sense utilization of private land. He said local farmers have the best interest of their consumers at heart.

He compared the government to the noble theory expressed in the Mayflower Compact, that all produce was available for the common storehouse. But the theory failed and so land was divided and each landowner produced crops.

“The new rule was ‘if you don’t work, you don’t eat,’ and it worked,” he said.

Gohmert said farmers understand the concept of hard work and offered himself as a sounding board for their legislative needs or roadblocks they might face in agri-business.