EDINBURG, TX - Cold, wet weather is putting a serious damper on Texas’ billion dollar agricultural industry.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Brad Cowan says, “Our row crops are getting to the point where this weather is really going to cause our growers the loss of major dollars if it doesn’t turn around here pretty quickly.”
Some growers have a state-mandated September 1 deadline to plant their crops, but Cowan said he and others will appeal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency for an extension of the planting deadline. Onions, which prefer hot, dry weather, are especially vulnerable.
“We have been wet, wet, wet,” he said. “And what’s made it bad is that it’s been both wet and cold. Either, at the wrong time, is bad; but together, it’s serious business.”
According to a summary released by the National Weather Service in Brownsville, the four-county Lower Rio Grande Valley area has seen unusually high rainfall amounts and cooler than normal temperatures since September.
The report cites El Niño as having added to already notably moist conditions, ensuring no return to drought conditions in the near future.
“The expectation for the current weather pattern to continue through spring ensures that drought has no chance to become established through May, and ensures no spring wildfire season for the lower and mid-Valley and only minimal opportunity for the Rio Grande Plains of Starr, Jim Hogg, and Zapata counties,” the report continues.
The report also forecasts that El Niño's subtropical jet will cause lower-than-normal temperatures through late March and a continued threat for more showers and thunderstorms.
But the cool wet weather can also be cause for celebration, Cowan said. “Rain is always good for our soil conditions and helps avoid depletion of our reservoirs at Amistad and Falcon dams. But it’s also great news for beef cattle and growing pastures here in South Texas."
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