Dec. 31, 2009 - For most of Texas agriculture, 2009 was one for the record books, but not in a good way. A prolonged drought, untimely freezes and other calamities of nature, combined with unsettled markets combined to make this a year to remember - or forget.
Travis Miller, an agronomist with Texas AgriLife Extension and a member of the Governor's Texas Drought Preparedness Council, said any one of the factors that made 2009 a trying year would have been enough to set producers back, but the combination of factors, all coming together in a single year, was devastating.
"It was an ugly year for most of Texas agriculture," Miller said. "It was a challenging year on several fronts. The drought was the biggest factor but we also had major damage to the wheat crop due to two late freezes in April, and High Plains cotton suffered a lot of damage too."
The late freezes hit much of the state on March 28 and 29, and again on April 5 and 6. Wheat losses were heavy throughout the state, with the exception of the area north of Amarillo, where the crop was not so far along.
The Hill Country peach crop also took a hit from three freezes. Gillespie County, heart of the southernmost peach-growing region, was hit especially hard because those trees had already bloomed when the freezes hit.
"Peaches are very vulnerable to a late freeze," Miller said. "The Fredericksburg area was hit hard because they were in the peak of bloom. A few producers in the area had peaches, but not many."
The single most damaging factor was the drought. By July, when much of the state was basking in 100 degree-plus temperatures, AgriLife economists estimated the drought had caused losses of more than $3.6 billion, with a total of more than $4 billion expected by the end of the year.
A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency in November showed that the Rio Grande Valley lost almost half of the total acreage of cotton, corn and sorghum due to the drought.
Crops failed over much of the state because of the drought, Miller said.
"Central Texas, South Texas, the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande Valley -- a lot of farmers in those areas didn't make a crop at all," he said. "In the area around Corpus Christi, cotton did not come up until they got a rain in June. It was a rough year from a drought perspective.
"In much of South Texas and Central Texas, the drought started in April of 2008 and there wasn't any significant moisture until August of 2009. That's a long time to go without water."
Livestock producers were hit just as hard, and in some cases harder, than row crop producers. Carl Anderson, an AgriLife economist, said 55 counties, mostly in Central and South Texas, had essentially no rain for two years and as a result produced no hay.
"We lost a lot of cattle," Anderson said. "People couldn't afford to keep them or feed them because the cost of hay went through the roof. Also, you had cattle get bogged down in the mud around dry or almost-dry stock tanks and die like that."
Northeast Texas, around Paris, had fairly good rains, Anderson said, and was able to supply Central and South Texas producers with hay.
"That was the one bright spot," he said. "At least we didn't have to go out of state to have hay shipped to us. That kept the cost of hay from getting too out of hand."
Robert (Bob) Whitney, agriculture Extension agent for Williamson County, said the past year was a tough one for almost all producers in his area, with the possible exception of vegetable farmers who sold their produce at area farmers markets.
"The Georgetown Farmers Market had a record-busting year," Whitney said.
Beyond that, the success stories of 2009 were few and far between, he added.
"Corn yields were less than 30 bushels," he added. "Sorghum was 22 pounds an acre, at best. Cotton got about 240 pounds of lint, not even half a bale. We had one cutting of hay and that was half of what it should be.
"As a result, you had a lot of people selling cattle. We lost a lot of trees in this county and all the counties around us. Pecan orchards lost trees left and right. There just wasn't a lot of good news for any of the producers this year."
Miller said that agriculture producers are by and large an optimistic lot, and added that there are some reasons to think that 2010 might be a better year.
"We're seeing some strong cotton prices," he said. "Wheat prices are good, but supply is short. We will be going into the planting season with a lot more moisture in the ground than we had last year, which isn't saying a lot, but it is a good sign."
Anderson said recent rains have helped drought-stricken pastures and brought the price of a 1,000-pound roll of hay down to the $60 range. During the drought, the price of the same roll was closer to $90 a roll. Even with normal rainfall, Anderson expects the drought's impact will still be felt in the coming year.
"Really, the impact of this drought is going to linger financially for another year," he said.
Whitney said he expects to see a lot more corn planted this year and that some producers, if conditions aren't optimal for planting corn, might plant cotton because of strong prices.
"If you drive around this area now, you will see a lot of farmers already getting their fields ready," he said. "They're putting down their anhydrous and they will be set to put out atrazine and phosphorous after the first of the year. Things really are looking up right now."
