Historically dry conditions have brought the the Texas agriculture industry to its knees, according to the Texas Farm Bureau's board of directors. The board met for its quarterly meeting in Waco today and released this statement.
Texas farmers and ranchers are in an extremely critical situation as we prepare for June and the hot summer months. Crops are shriveling in the field. Pastures are burning. Many farmers likely will have little or nothing to harvest. Some ranchers already are selling their herds.
The Farm Bureau says the irony of this situation was that they entered 2011 with high expectations thanks to high prices for crop and livestock. But now they dread that 2011 could be worse than the $4 billion in losses that farmers and ranchers suffered in 2009.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows 100 percent of Texas is suffering from drought, and much of it is rated "exceptional", the most Monitor's intense drought category.
