AUSTIN – Rainfall through portions of Texas this week is giving a boost to spring crops, but an official with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service told members of the Drought Preparedness Council Thursday the drought isn't over.
"We're still short on stored moisture," said Travis Miller, an Extension agronomist and member of the Drought Preparedness Council. "Northeast and East Texas are in pretty good shape right now, but the Trans Pecos area is bone dry and in extreme drought. If you go out west of Interstate 35, out to the San Angelo and Abilene areas, conditions are terrible."
Planting of cotton and sorghum will not begin until there is rainfall in those areas, Miller told the group.
The High Plains and southern part of the Rolling Plains regions are still "pretty dry," Miller said, and the state's wheat crop will result in an estimated harvest of just 60 million bushels compared to 137 million bushels harvested in 1999.
"More than 80 percent of the wheat crop is in fair to poor condition," said Miller, as the wheat harvest is in the beginning stages.
He noted 80 percent of the corn crop is in the ground "and looking good," but said stored soil moisture is crucial in the development of those plants.
"A 4-foot tall plant can suck a third of an inch of water out of the ground per day," Miller said. "[Without rainfall and hot conditions] we could run into trouble."
Prior to April 30, Miller said corn crops in parts of Texas were showing signs of stress.
Darrell Peckham, a representative with the Texas Water Development Board, told council members conditions in the Northern and Eastern parts of the state are beginning to improve, "but in the whole scheme of things, we're not out of the drought situation.
"The Trans Pecos is in the extreme category and for six consecutive months, our reservoir level storage amounts are at their lowest in 23 years," Peckham told the group.
State reservoir storage levels are at 74 percent this week, according to the Texas Water Development Board. The Trans Pecos region of the state is averaging just 26 percent in storage compared to 89 percent in East Texas and 81 percent in North Central Texas.
Texas farmers and ranchers are enduring a fourth drought in five years, already costing the state's agricultural producers $96 million thus far in 2000, according to Extension economists.
Texas farmers and ranchers lost another $223 million in the fall of 1999. The 1996 drought resulted in $2 billion in producer losses, while the 1998 drought caused $2.1 billion in producers losses.