More in Drought

The 2012 drought is impacting food retailers and restaurants but to different degrees according to a webinar sponsored by Penton Media....More

With very dry conditions setting in, most winter wheat stands are already severely stressed. “We had one of the driest Octobers on record in Texas, and essentially no rain at all in November,” said Dr. Travis Miller, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program leader and Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences associate department head....More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to help producers rebound from drought have touched more than one million acres of farmland across the country as nearly 2,000 producers took advantage of conservation funding targeted to drought-stricken areas by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)....More

Cotton Incorporated and the USDA have combined to study a high tech, real time system of monitoring soil moisture that will provide much more accurate production information for official variety testing programs around the country — and it could provide valuable data for growers further down the road....More

Need winter grazing but there’s not enough soil moisture to plant? A Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert said “dusting it in” is worth the risk....More

All parts of the state received rain Sept. 11-18, with many areas getting 2 to 3 inches, and isolated areas getting more than 5 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Large parts of the Panhandle and the Rolling Plains areas received 1 inch to 1.5 inches. Even the Far West received rain, with large pockets getting 1 inch to 1.5 inches or more, but most areas getting a trace to 0.5 inch, according to the weather service....More

Many areas of Texas remained hot and dry, and though fuel loads may not be as high as last year, the risk of wildfire is building, said Megan Clayton, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service range specialist, Corpus Christi....More

The 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli has been credited with pointing out that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics....More

According to National Weather Service records, large areas of the state have received 100 percent or more of normal rainfall since Jan. 1. Many other areas have gotten 50 to 75 percent of normal. The precipitation statistics aside, much of Texas still suffers from drought conditions, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel. Of concern to many are low pond and stock-tank levels. Conditions often vary county to county within a region....More

The U.S. beef herd has been shrinking, and the worst drought in decades has only encouraged that trend to continue....More