The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared all of Texas a natural disaster area because of drought and wildfires. Each of 213 counties out of a total of 254 (edited to reflect number of total counties) in the state has lost as much as 30% of its crops.
This declaration will make farmers in these counties eligible for low-cost loans and other aid, but I have to agree with the reaction of one of those farmers: "I don't need loans. I need rain!"
There's no help for gardeners in this, except for professional, large-scale operations, but I'm happy to see that our brother and sister farmers will be able to tap into additional assistance in coming months. No doubt it will help many of them.
97% of Texas is in drought, a high proportion extreme drought. I've lived in the Hill Country 5 years now and 3 of them have been tough drought years. Wondering if this is a trend.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it may be, Kathleen.
ReplyDelete