Released May 22, 2009
WESLACO, Texas -- Spring rains that have swept across Texas recently have ignored the state's southern tip, leaving cotton crops to wither away in relentless heat and wind, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.
“We’ve had no significant rainfall since August of 2008,” said Jeff Stapper, an AgriLife Extension agent in Nueces County. “We’ve had isolated pockets of heavy rain, but no region-wide, general rain.”
In an area where the vast majority of cotton relies solely on rainfall, losses are mounting, he said.
"In Nueces County, 83 percent of the 124,000 acres planted have failed,” he said, “they’ve been zeroed-out by insurance adjusters.” What plants are left standing are showing signs of shutting down due to lack of moisture, Stapper said.
“It’s a pretty dire situation, not only for farmers and producers, but also to those who work in the cotton infrastructure here. Gins are laying off people because there’s no cotton.”
Neighboring San Patricio and Kleberg counties are suffering similar fates. The vast majority of 300,000 acres planted in the three-county area has failed, he said.
“Our average rainfall is about 29 to 30 inches; we’re way behind that.”
The cotton situation along the border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is only slightly better, thanks to fields irrigated with river water. But the lack of rainfall is taking its toll there too, AgriLife Extension personnel say.
The four-county area has had no significant rainfall since September, according to the National Weather Service.
“Cotton does well in heat, but not without moisture. It revitalizes plants and soils and saves farmers the high costs of irrigating,” said LeeRoy Rock, the AgriLife Extension cotton integrated pest management entomologist in Weslaco.
“We started out the season with some soil moisture, but not nearly enough, especially in the dryland fields,” he said. “What was able to come up was severely damaged by high winds.”
Of the 60,000 acres planted, only 20,000 acres are in irrigated fields; the remainder is dryland, according to John Norman, Rock’s predecessor and now a private consultant.
“Some fields that didn’t come up have been plowed under,” he said. “What did come up will be evaluated by insurance adjustors in mid-July to determine if they have a chance of making a crop.”
Irrigated crops are also showing signs of stress from a lack of rainfall, Norman said.
“We’re staring to see salt build-up in the soil from the salinity in the irrigation water and heat,” he said. “That stunts plant growth and the only way to get rid of that is for rainfall to push those salts below the root zone. But there’s been no rain to do that.”
To make matters worse, growers who do manage to make a crop this year will likely sell their product on a depressed market, Norman said.
“Prices are still cheap, about 50 cents per pound,” he said. “That’s way below break-even, which is not good for a crop that’s already looking bad.”
Norman said the low market prices have depressed the number of acres farmers plant in cotton nationwide, not just here.
Only 60,000 acres were planted in the Rio Grande Valley this year, compared to 200,000 acres that were planted here routinely just a few years ago, Norman said.
The only good news in this year’s cotton crop is the lack of widespread insect damage, Rock said.
“Maybe because of the low number of acres planted, we’re not seeing large numbers of devastating insects this year,” he said. “The ratio of beneficial insects to damaging insects is good.”
But the lack of rainfall, especially in the Coastal Bend area, could have far-reaching consequences since bare ground is susceptible to wind and soil erosion, Stapper said.
“Farmers here are in a pickle,” he said, “because wind erosion on bare ground can be severe here. They’re trying to decide which alternative crop to plant, just to get some vegetation on the ground to protect the soil.”
But without moisture, Stapper said, not even a ground cover crop will survive.
"We're looking for rain," he said.
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http://agnews.tamu.edu/showstory.php?id=1213
Sources: Jeff Stapper, 361-767-5223, JStapper@ag.tamu.edu
LeeRoy Rock, 956-968-5581, LRRock@ag.tamu.edu
John Norman, 956-968-5581, JNorman@ag.tamu.edu
Writer: Rod Santa Ana, 956-878-8317, r-santaana@tamu.edu
