While much of the focus currently is on rescuing storm victims, the agricultural industry in Texas is bracing for major difficulties, even though there hasn’t been much time to calculate the losses.
Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told Fox News that in the 21-county area affected by the floods, hundreds of miles of fencing was lost, along with countless barns, outbuildings and other farm structures. Deceased livestock is another challenge farmers and ranchers are dealing with.
“To put this in perspective, in 24-hour period enough water went down the river through Kerrville that would equal that amount of water that goes through Niagara Falls in month and a half,” Miller told Fox News on Monday. “It was a 26-foot wall of water at 3 a.m. in the morning, and it caught everybody off guard.
“We’ve lost farm-to-market roads, bridges and utilities, irrigation systems were wiped out, crops are under water, missing livestock, tractors under water, implements washed away.”
The Texas Department of Agriculture urged farmers and ranchers to move livestock to higher ground and secure equipment as more rain was forecast Monday.
Media reports said yield losses of up to 40% in lowland areas of the affected counties, and there will be more problems with waterlogged pastures and contaminated feed supplies that will stress cattle, poultry and swine operations.
With Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issuing disaster declarations in multiple counties, the Texas Department of Agriculture has made available the STAR Fund, Hay and Feed Hotline and AgriStress Helpline to assist farmers, ranchers, rural communities and Texans in need during the crisis:
For information on the AgriStress Helpline, please click here. For more information on the STAR Fund or to donate, please follow this link. If you need hay for livestock, visit the Hay and Feed Hotline here.
For a complete list of counties for which the Governor declared a disaster declaration, please follow this link.
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