Texas Drought Update

Marketplace on Texas agriculture and the drought:

Only six-and-half inches of rain have fallen in Texas since last July.

Pacatte: Our diesel bills that run the irrigation pumps are what we're judging it by. And they're at least three times, if not maybe four times, what they were last year.

Last week, economists estimated the drought cost farmers and ranchers $5.2 billion since November. Some agricultural experts advise ranchers to move livestock up north temporarily to greener pasture. Or ranchers can sell out and try again after the drought.
Dr. David Anderson is a livestock economist at Texas A&M University.

David Anderson: For every cow that a rancher is forced to sell, you know that cow is not going to have a calf next year. That calf won't become a steak 20 months after that. One of the things we will see is certainly some reduced supplies and higher prices on the meat side of things.

Only 6 and a half inches since last July.  That hurts.  It can't be good for the Ogallala Aquifer to have such a dry year.