Texas is experiencing its worst drought since 2011, with a blistering summer and prolonged dry conditions expected to deal a similar blow to the state’s economy, according to the Texas Comptroller’s office.
Temperatures soared above 100 degrees for 40 days this summer and scorched the livelihoods of many Texas farmers.
In 2011, a drought cost the Texas economy nearly $7.62 billion in direct agricultural losses and nearly $17 billion in total losses, according to the Texas Water Development Board.
The comptroller’s office believes this year’s drought could have a similar impact.
“This present drought has spelled disaster for the state’s cotton industry,” Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in a statement. Texas produces about 40% of the nation’s cotton, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.
“One estimate says cotton producers, which are concentrated in the Panhandle, will lose about $2.1 billion in total economic activity, not including the losses covered by crop insurance,” Hegar said. “Although crop insurance helps producers recoup revenue losses, it doesn’t help businesses and consumers further down the supply chain.”
2022 will go into the books as Texas’ 11th driest in the last 128 years. From Aug. 9 to Aug. 15, 68% of Texas was in extreme drought conditions and nearly 30% was in exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Rainfall and cooler temperatures have since eased drought conditions. As of this week, over 52% of the state was in moderate to severe drought.
In the High Plains area around Lubbock and Amarillo, the most productive of the state’s nine cotton-growing regions, experts at Texas Tech University are predicting a $2.1 billion hit to this year’s harvest.
One cotton farmer in South Texas said he’ll lose about $750 an acre on his 2,000-acre farm this year. John Robinson, a cotton economist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, said cotton abandonment — when farmers stop tending their crop — hit a record 68% in Texas. That means this year’s cotton production is forecast to be only 3.25 million bales, some 53% below Texas’ previous five-year average.
Texas is the top producer among 17 southern-tiered “Cotton Belt” states that stretch from Virginia to California. Cotton is planted from March to June and harvested from August to December.
Devastating droughts are a part of Texas history, with the state experiencing a historic decade-long drought in the 1930s that earned the southern plains region the Dust Bowl moniker.
From 1950 to 1957, the state’s agriculture industry lost $36 billion from drought, according to the Texas Water Development Board. From 2010 to 2014, farmers suffered losses estimated as high as $15 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
