Texas Growers - Are You Surviving?
Our state climatologist says that another La Nina is forming in the Pacific now and that 2012 will be a repeat of 2011, which broke all existing drought records. The meteorilogical pattern is very similar to the severe Texas drought of the 1950's, but much worse due to increased carbon pollution in the atmosphere. Ag losses in Texas, at last count, were pushing 6 billion $. We are basically out-of-business. The only way our operation can survive is to spend big bucks drilling an irrigation well - and we ain't got the money.
Global Warming has been very controversial in this conservative state, but many of us are reluctantly beginning to consider the possibility. But even if it is true, nothing can realistically be done about it. Nobody is willing to revert to a nineteenth century lifestyle. Windmills, solar panels, electric vehicles - just a bunch of boondoggle and pie-in-the-sky nonsense. Aside from atomic (which the greenies also hate), there is no viable substitute for petroleum.
Jack
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on -
Nobody wants to defend the Global Warming theory?
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Permalink Reply by Paul Rusnak on -
To your point, Jack, I came across this article.
Will the federal "safety nets" be enough in this case?
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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on
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The safety nets are full of holes and they are obviously inadequate to prevent wholesale bankruptcies next year if it doesn't rain. They will certainly help some of the hardest-hit commodity growers, though. The cattle industry is the most threatened, with timber right behind, and I don't think either of them has any fed assistance program to lean on.
Y'all can't believe how bad it really is down here, Paul! We're in SE Texas, an area of heavy rainfall, swamps and hurricanes - and we're rapidly becoming a desert!
To be painfully candid, what really struck me, Paul, while reading the article you linked, is what a two-faced hypocrite I am! I'm complaining about federal spending, condemning the President for the bail-outs, while at the same time supporting these programs that help agriculture! We're all the same, Paul - no breaks for magazine publishers! They are on their own! BUT, don't dare touch my SS check, my ag sales tax exemptions, my charitable exemptions or programs that help distressed farmers.
Reminds me of an old saying, "it all depends on whose ox is gored." It also explains how difficult it will be to balance the budget - every constituency has it's own little subsidy! Let me re-phrase that..."their own HUGE subsidy" in most cases.
Normally, politics and religion aren't appropriate on sites like this. But as slow as things are, perhaps we can make a temporary exception. :-)
Jack
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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on
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Well, we're not exactly setting the world on fire! I think what few participants we had left when it got so slow. I quit checking this board daily for awhile myself.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Rusnak on
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Greg said it best: "I know we are all busy, but there is always time to talk farming."
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Permalink Reply by Roger McBridfe on
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Not sure why Global Warming is getting blamed here. La Nina is a zone of below average surface water temperatures off the western coast of South America. This surface water temperature change impacts large scale atmosphere circulations, primarily by shifting the location of semi-permanent high pressure areas. Even if you accept the idea that increased anthropogenic greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, are causing climatic weather pattern shifts, I would think a link to this year's drought in Texas and other southwest regions is tenuous.
Climate has never been both a precise and reliable weather guide. Droughts have been recorded for about as long as written records exist. And other anthropolical and geological data suggests that droughts go back beyond the beginnings of written histories.
The good news is that this La Nina event is looking like it might be less severe than the previous one that set the stage for this year's Southwest US drought. The bad news for someone is that the change to neutral or El Nino conditions moves the drought on to someone else.
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Permalink Reply by Matt on
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Sounds like it is time for growers in Texas to fully embrace drip irrigation. Do you truely have zero water or is easy access to surface stores (ponds, lakes, etc) gone?
Drip irrigation can be a cropsaving technology when there is little rain. You can reduce water use up to 60% compared to furrow irrigation. And 50% compared to overhead irrigation.
I know times are tough, but sometimes we need to adapt and when that is not possible, move. Most people forget that in the time of ancient egyptians the sahara was lush and green. That was a mere 5000-8000 years back. That is NOTHING compared to the age of the world.
Climate change happens all of the time. The whole term today is loaded by people with a political bent on taxing people. This earth is very dynamic. Does burning fossil fuels have an impact? Maybe. Is it enough to cause all of the problems "they" say? No. We go through mini ice ages every few thousand years. Heck Europe went through one a few hundred years ago. We know for a FACT that fossil fuels played no impact then.
Volcanos do in a few days what man has attempted over decades, yet there is no impending doom. I would be more worried about the wars, nuclear materials, crap they dump in the ocean, etc. vs. climate change. The first few things we DO have control over. For the rest, we need to use our brains and overcome and when that is not possible, move until conditions improve.
Even native Americans moved around with the seasons. They were the first climatologists. They moved south (snow birds?) in the winter and north in the summer. Maybe they knew something we have forgotten?
Don't get discouraged Jack. It will get better, hopefully. In the mean time, look into ways of making it work, like using drip tape.
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Permalink Reply by B.A.Murdock on
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Wanted to offer this article from Australia concerning drought.
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Permalink Reply by B.A.Murdock on
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The Great Work of God: Rain
A Thanksgiving Meditation
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Job 5:8-10
But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends water on the fields. Job 5:8-10
If you said to someone: "My God does great and unsearchable things; He does wonders without number," and they responded, "Really? Like what?" would you say, "Rain"?
When I read these verses recently I felt like I did when I heard the lyrics to a Sonny and Cher song in 1969: "I'd live for you. I'd die for you. I'd even climb the mountain high for you." Even? I would die for you. I would even climb a high mountain for you? The song was good for a joke. Or a good illustration of bad poetry. Not much else.
But Job is not joking. "God does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number." He gives rain on the earth." In Job's mind, rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. So when I read this a few weeks ago, I resolved not to treat it as meaningless pop musical lyrics. I decided to have a conversation with myself (= meditation).
Is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where?
Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.
That's heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That's a nice word. What's it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What's that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That's small.
What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm?
Well it doesn't dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.
How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that's the way to ask the question)? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.
I think, instead, I will just take Job's word for it. I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there is a name for that too. But I am satisfied now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful - lots more thankful than I am.
Grateful to God for the wonder of rain,
Pastor John
Thought this article better projects my convictions regarding the weather.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on
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Matt:
How ironic that you mention that. I just finished installing a small drip-tape system as an experiment. (Is this the same Matt from the immmigrant labor discussion?)
By way of introduction -we are a church-based charity, dba Gardeners for Jesus. We operate a vegetable stand in a minority area on a voluntary donation basis. We have three growers, all of us retired from other businesses, with a total of about 15 acres under cultivation. We're basically hobby farmers who don't depend on crops for a living. The project does reimburse our fertilizer/chems/seed costs when donations permit.
I grow tomatoes, squash, peppers, and cucumbers and irrigate very inefficiently with both sprinklers and a gravity "leaky pipe" system, pumped from a 4 acre lake on my own property. Our corn grower has a regular irrigation well and uses sprinklers - but he also has cattle and used all his water on the hayfield this summer (no crop for the church). The fellow who grows peas and okra has no irrigation and depends on rainfall. Traditionally, we could grow corn, peas and okra here without irrigation - but that all changed some years ago.
I just blew-out and activated an old, unused 2" well that used to serve the old house I was raised in here, and have installed drip-tape on a half-acre. The well only flows at a 10GPM, and I am amazed at how far that little bit of water goes with this drip tape! (My lake pump flows at 60GPM!) I have mustard and turnips planted there. If this works-out, and it doesn't rain enough this winter to fill the lake, I may drill a larger well and expand the system to several acres. So far, the only obstacle I've encountered is how to cultivate without tearing-up the tape - just buried some and we'll see how that works.
I am working with DripWorks in California, who has guided me through the installation.
Jack
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Br. Murdock,
At least that Scripture is more encouraging than my pastor's sermon last Sunday - He preached on Elijah's drought, which lasted 3-1/2 years!!(IKings:17). So far, no ravens, though. :-) Actually, we got a nice little shower yesterday- no enough to restore our irrigation lake, but we'll take what we can get. Please pray for us! Jack
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Roger - great to hear a voice of encouragment. We've had darn little good news of late.
The good news is that this La Nina event is looking like it might be less severe than the previous one that set the stage for this year's Southwest US drought. The bad news for someone is that the change to neutral or El Nino conditions moves the drought on to someone else."
There has been a major weather change here in SE Texas over the last couple decades. Years ago, we got thunder showers nearly every afternoon all summer and there was no need to irrigate anything. Been years and years since we saw that pattern. The Global Warming theory seems to fit - what else could it be?
Jack
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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on
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Matt - one more note
From what I'm seeing here, the drip tape is saving a LOT more than 50-60%! But, of course, my system is the least efficient imaginable! :-)
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Permalink Reply by Dillard Haley on
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Jack you are old enough to have talked to people who encountered the dust bowl years first hand. It was pretty widespread, altho most severe in the Midwest . I remember my elder brother talking about gigging carp in the Rivanna River in 1932. The water was so low, that the carps backs were sticking out of the water and could not move very well. That was in the Virginia Piedmont. Drought cycles seem to last for years. Here in Georgia, we have had stage 4 in this area for about 5 years running. Not as bad as Texas, but farmers in middle to south Georgia are really hurting. I am adopting a wait and see on Global warming theories. History has recorded wild swings in temperature as well as drought conditions. Nothing I can do about it so I use my time to deal with problems I can do something about. Todays technology including drip tape, gives us a lot more tools to work with, than our fathers and grandfathers had.
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