With stubborn inner-city problems unique to Waco, it’s easy to forget the significant role agriculture plays in the Central Texas economy. Fortunately, events like the annual junior livestock show, held just a few weeks ago, remind us not only of its legacy but its enormous potential in our future.

Events like the annual Equipment Depot Mid-Tex Farm & Ranch Show at the Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex in the coliseum and General Exhibits Building remind us of the here and now in agriculture. Visiting the show — which kicked off Tuesday and runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today with free admission — showcases the latest in farm implements and ranch equipment plus, yes, a slice of rural life sometimes overlooked by those of us more comfortably rooted in city ways.

In that context, we invite friends and neighbors to this year’s show, if only to see how varied a farm and ranch show can be. We saw booths rented out to everyone from Bar None Country Store to Bayer Crop Science to Educators Credit Union to the Texas Beef Council — the latter offering brochures touting beef over chicken, including recipes. (Our favorite bumper sticker: “Eat beef. The West wasn’t won on salad.”)

A nimble representative of Texas State Technical College-Waco motored around the huge show on a Segway, a contraption that looks like a lawn mower on steroids but is quick and easy transportation if you don’t feel like hoofing it. He acknowledged to a couple of inquisitive farmers that he wasn’t sure it actually had any agricultural use.

“Be hard picking cotton with it,” said one farmer, eyeing the contraption suspiciously.

“Might be able to ride it in the chicken house,” another deadpanned.

We saw veterinarian and state Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson at one booth, in his role as a member of the Texas House Agriculture and Livestock Committee. Anderson — now making headlines over nagging tax problems he’s had — said many people stopping at the booth instead inquired about the growing problem of rampaging feral hogs in Central Texas.

There was plenty of activity at a booth staffed by friendly supporters of anti-tax Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina. We encountered one prospective voter who, possibly to impress his audience, claimed no less than four ancestors in the famous Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, an insurrection in Pennsylvania over the taxing of whiskey that President George Washington finally had to suppress.

Best we can tell, all matters at the farm and ranch show eventually get back to ag life. We’re informed that one visitor asked if Medina, as governor, could finally get DSL connection for his farm.