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Sunday, May 18, 1997

Rain pummels state one year following drought

By PAM EASTON / Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) - One year ago, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry predicted that the drought would burn up $6.5 billion from the Texas economy.

"What a difference a year makes," Perry said in an interview from his car as his windshield wipers slapped at the pounding rain.

"Over the vast majority of the state of Texas, the drought has broken," Perry said. "That doesn't mean the agriculture business across the state is doing better."

Spring rains moistened fields throughout the state, providing some farmers a much needed reprieve and leaving others with rotting vegetables swimming in damp fields, caked with mud.

Almost 6.5 inches of rain fell in Amarillo last month, compared with an almost untraceable amount in April 1996. In Lubbock, .11 inch last April was replaced with close to 6 inches this year.

In South Texas, rain has become too much of a good thing. Constant downpours have delayed planting by weeks.

Brownsville jumped from a half-inch of precipitation last April to 4.78 inches a year later, while Harlingen went from just over an inch to 4.69 inches.

"It's a mixed bag," Perry said. "If you happened to be in that sector where the rains came timely, you're looking forward to better times. If you happened to be impacted by too much rain like in Hidalgo County, it's not so promising."

Hidalgo County extension agent Brad Cowan just keeps scratching his head.

"It was just so darn wet that a lot of crops didn't get planted in a timely fashion," he said. "It's caused some big-time problems. This area has a diverse economy but we still have our roots in agriculture."

Farmers in Wharton County switched to planting soybeans instead of corn, knowing the rain they prayed for last year has dashed their hopes for a good corn crop this year.

"They got to complaining about the drought a year ago and I got them the rain, and now they are complaining about the rain," said John Cosper, an extension agent in Wharton, 54 miles southwest of Houston.

"We're trying to be innovative and work through the situation as best we can, but it looks pretty dismal."

Switching to a crop with a lower income potential is one of those innovations, Texas A&M agricultural economics professor Roland Smith said.

Losses will continue as farmers across the state face problems getting rice, corn and cotton crops in the ground because of excess moisture, he said.

"There's still a lot of financial crisis even though the weather has turned around," he said. "It still doesn't look all that optimistic in trying to recover from last year's losses."

The sloppy situation worrying many farmers in South Texas is giving a glimmer of hope to farmers and ranchers in other parts of the state.

"As far as I can tell we are all going back into business," third-generation San Angelo rancher Bill Bates said.

Last year Bates' ranch was emptied. He sold every cow, goat and sheep grazing his fields.

Now, Bates is slowly rebuilding. He's at about 60 percent of his original stock, forgoing steers and heifers because of their hefty prices since the drought.

A year ago this April a rancher could pull in $58.20 per hundredweight. Now, to replace a animal sold during the drought, ranchers must fork over an additional $12 per hundredweight.

"We sold at very low prices and we're going back in at much higher prices," Bates said. "I don't think you can say we're healed but we're on the way."

Farmers in West Texas and the Panhandle are slowly working with the moisture that has allowed them to once again probe the soil they couldn't even penetrate last year.

But no one is about to second-guess Mother Nature, Bates said.

"I'm not sure any part of the nation is drought resistant," he said. "I doubt seriously someone in the city thinks about it until they get into water rationing. We have to think about it all the time."

In Dallam County, attention has turned from weather to the marketplace, extension agent Mike Bragg said.

Not only does the county's corn crop seem to be off to a promising start, but a mid-April freeze that damages the area's wheat crop may not be as serious as first expected, he said. The wheat crop was the area's most promising in five years before the April 12 cold snap.

Perry foresees more good news ahead as Texas farmers and ranchers slowly pull out of one of the worst natural disasters this century.

"Texas agriculturalists are perpetual optimists," he said. "It's a roll of the dice every year. This year it looks like sevens and elevens, but sometimes it comes up snake eyes." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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