Texas drought slams farmers with woes
By Jerry Lackey
21 May 2011 Weather disasters across the nation already have wreaked havoc on 2011 agriculture, maybe worse than millions of feral hogs are doing to livestock, irrigated crops, city parks and golf courses. But hold onto your hat, more is ahead as meteorologists predict an active hurricane season from June through November. Croplands totaling millions of acres are underwater along the Mississippi River Delta. The impact of backwater flooding and levee breaches, plus slow-drying fields in other parts of the South and Midwest from great amounts of rainfall, is one thing. Contrast that scenario with the worst drought in Texas history and the industry is reaching calamitous conditions. For farmers and ranchers — during a time when wind, rain, flooding and fire are not the only troubles to be faced — add what perhaps could be another tsunami coming from the halls of Congress, warns Larry Combest of Lubbock, former U.S. House Agriculture Committee chairman. “How many millions of acres are under water? Some early estimates put the number at more than 2.2 million acres. How many acres are being or will be parched by drought? How many thousands of square miles will be prevented from planting? How many billions of dollars in crop losses will be sustained? What is the impact of this year’s flooding on the productive value of land in the future? “And, what does all of this mean for thousands of farm and ranch families and U.S. jobs and the economy, generally?” Combest quizzed readers in an op-ed piece for the National Journal Daily. … Meanwhile, the Texas drought losses have reached $1.2 billion and estimates are expected to escalate higher for the remainder of the year as ranchers continue to sell off herds and crop conditions deteriorate, according to Dr. David Anderson, an economist at Texas A&M University in College Station. “Each day without rainfall is one in which crop and livestock losses mount,” Anderson said. “Even with the severity of the current drought, estimation of economic losses is difficult given that we are still early in the growing season.” He said livestock losses because of drought are an estimated $1.2 billion from November through May. Those losses include increased feeding costs and lost value of wheat pasture grazing. Wildfires have destroyed more than 2 million acres and an estimated $33 million worth of fencing, pipeline and other farm or ranch assets. … The U.S. Drought Monitor reports 100 percent of the state has at least abnormally dry conditions and 82 percent classified in extreme and exceptional drought. Drought losses from 1998 through 2009 compiled by Texas AgriLife Extension economists gives a sad track record for the Lone Star State. They include: $3.6 billion for 2009, $1.4 billion for 2008, $4.1 billion for 2006, $316 million for 2002, $1.1 billion for 2000, $223 million for 1999, and $2.4 billion for 1998.
