[Texgreen] Drought already cost Texas 1.4 billion

[Roger Baker]

We should save our surface and aquifer water for local farming (as  
the cost of trucking in produce from afar increases with fuel cost)  
-- for something other than watering big suburban lawns.

And meanwhile what do Gov. Perry's guys running the state say?  
Basically they say: keep building toll roads over farmland, on  
credit, to serve future sprawl growth, pipe in water, and don't worry  
about the global warming that is probably linked to the drought  
described below.

Start putting the people near the river where the water naturally is,  
rather than assuming that governmental entities will have to provide  
cheap water/wastewater/transportation infrastructure, at the expense  
of all sorts of problems and inefficiencies and pollution in the long  
run.

The end of cheap fossil fuel energy will force an end to suburban  
sprawl before long due to many inefficiencies. The heat of central  
Texas summers forces most of us into air-conditioned cocoons in any  
case, and suburban residences are particularly subject to poor energy  
economics.

To this add the cost of piping out fresh water, building roads,  
sewage disposal, lawn care for low density development and you see  
the addictive syndrome clearly;  multi-unsustainable suburban  
residential infrastructure being promoted by interests centered  
around land development.

All that could serve as a warm-up for this following entertaining piece:

<http://www.kunstler.com/mags_lumpenleisure.html>

-- Roger

             ****************************************************

 From San Antonio Express-News Sat Aug 12, 2006:

Dry times have cost the state $4.1 billion
Web Posted: 08/12/2006 12:17 AM CDT

William Pack

Express-News Business Writer

The ongoing drought in Texas has set a modern-day record of $4.1  
billion in economic losses, according to economists with the Texas  
Cooperative Extension service, and the final tab has yet to be tallied.
The current drought, which started 16 months ago, has surpassed the  
$2.1 billion in losses set by the 1998 drought and is comparable to  
the damage sustained in the six-year drought of the 1950s, economists  
at the agricultural outreach division at Texas A&M University said.

Without substantial rainfall by the end of 2006, it could be the  
worst ever, they said.

"It's hard to compare (time periods), but clearly this is a 1950s- 
type drought," said Extension agronomist Travis Miller. "We haven't  
seen anything like this since the 1950s."

The mounting losses include $2.5 billion in crop losses, with more  
than $1 billion in losses from Texas' No. 1 cash crop, cotton. The  
state's livestock sector has sustained $1.6 billion in losses.
Farmers and ranchers have been grappling with the problem for months  
as stock tanks for cattle have dried up and cash crops have  
experienced withering conditions under the heat.

Statewide, about half the cotton, corn sorghum and soybeans have been  
rated in poor to very poor condition for months, the drought report  
said.

"Much of the corn in Central Texas has been made into silage or hay,  
and most of Northeast Texas' soybean crop has been cut for hay to  
supply dairy operations in desperate need of forages," said Carl  
Anderson, professor emeritus and Extension economist.

"If it rained now, it would be too late for the main crops," he said.

Gene Hall, a spokesman for the Texas Farm Bureau, said he wasn't  
surprised by the economists' estimate, which describes "a truly  
devastating year."

The drought has affected different areas of the state to different  
degrees. Rains have left some areas with relief at least temporarily.  
The upper coast and the Brazos Valley area around College Station  
have received nourishing rains recently, but officials said most of  
the rest of Texas is dry.

Miller said the Uvalde area is the worst he's seen it, with leafless  
brush and no pastures.

"It's like a moonscape," he said.

Areas south of San Antonio toward Corpus Christi also have been hit  
hard, Hall said. Many crops in the area did not come up at all, and  
livestock either already has been sold or is about to be sold so  
ranchers can avoid punishing production costs.

"Feeding is prohibitively expensive," said Hall.

There is no statewide estimate on how far the livestock herd has  
fallen, but in South Texas it's about 40 percent of normal size,  
officials estimated. Many producers sold out altogether.

Matt Brockman, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern  
Cattle Raisers Association, said even if rains start soon, it will  
take a long time to restore pastures and rebuild herds to normal  
levels. Ranchers have faced so many dry years since 1996, they are  
likely to rebuild slowly, he said.

"They're not going to let that same dog bite them twice," Brockman said.

The winter wheat crop in Texas fell to 35 million bushels this year,  
the lowest level since 1971. Miller said the average wheat yield is  
96 million to 100 million bushels.

He said more than 2 million acres of cotton were lost this year, and  
much more cotton acreage is of marginal quality. That comes only a  
year after Texas cotton growers produced a record crop.

"There's no doubt entire farms have been abandoned and yields are  
going to be extremely low," said John Johnson, spokesman for the  
Plains Cotton Cooperative Association.

It's not just farmers and ranchers feeling the drought's effects.  
When they have no crops or livestock to sell, producers pay less to  
feed stores, equipment suppliers, veterinarians and other rural  
businesses. Anderson said the total projected losses sustained by  
agribusiness in the state could reach $8 billion.

"As farmers are going out of business, so are the communities  
surrounding us," said David Moore, a Dumas wheat farmer and chairman  
of the Texas Wheat Producers Board. "At this point, we can only look  
to Congress for a disaster assistance package for 2006, and pray for  
rain across our drought-stricken state for next year's crop."

wpack@express-news.net