Drought Severely Affecting Texas Wheat
By: Chris Whited, KRBC News
Updated: February 3, 2009
The severe drought is hampering hopes of Big Country and Texas wheat farmers to have fields of gold this growing season. A report published last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes that 66-percent of the state's wheat crop is in poor or very poor condition. The USDA estimates that 4-percent of the 5.9 million acres of wheat Texas farmers seeded last fall has not yet come up, darkening yield prospects. Experts say crops that has emerged are dying, while most crops are still in the ground and won't emerge. Many farmers may be forced to abandon many fields outright, possibly seeding the acreage with cotton instead, this spring.
