• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

USDA Puts Hidalgo, Starr Counties on List of Agriculturally Devastated Areas

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 17--ALAMO -- Phyllis Moore's cotton and grain crops have seen better days.

"This year has been real wacky," said the owner of the 600-acre Mid-Valley Farms. "Prior to (Hurricane) Emily, we lost cotton because of the drought. It was hot, dry and windy."

July's hurricane just compounded her crop woes.

"After that happened, everything went to pot," she said. "The color was off, the grade was off, (and) the price went way down."

Moore's plight could be alleviated through low-interest emergency loans the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency now offers. The USDA designated several Texas counties, including the contiguous jurisdictions of Hidalgo and Starr, as agriculture disaster areas last week because of drought, high winds and excessive temperatures they have suffered since March. The designation does not include the damage Hurricane Emily inflicted.

"We've had just a couple of good years out of the last 10," said service center farm loan manager Arnulfo Lerma. "Farmers were beginning to make headway and now we've had these disasters that will set them back."

Farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers who lost 30 percent of a normal year's yields should apply for the emergency loans, which carry a $500,000 limit per individual and a 3.34 percent annual interest rate. Other loans are also available.

"They are available for refinancing, carry-over debt, or for purchasing new equipment and, or, for annual operating expenses," Lerma said.

Applicants have until March 29, 2006, to seek the loans. At least 100 people from Hidalgo and Starr counties are expected to apply, said Benny Cano, the USDA Farm Service Agency district director.

The declaration is based on below normal average rainfalls since March, even with Hurricane Emily. Although temperatures have remained average, the combination of drought, wind and high temperatures stripped fragile cotton from stalks or knocked crops over.

"Everybody has suffered at least a 50 percent production loss in all crops," he said.

Damage assessments for all crops will be made after cotton season is finished in September, said Brad Cowan, Hidalgo County agricultural extension agent for the Texas Cooperative Extension. Grain sorghum and cotton are the crops that have been hit the hardest by the rough weather. Pastures and range land have been damaged as well.

Moore said she needs emergency loans to prepare for next season.

"You can't (deal) with the price of diesel, buy fertilizer, water, chemicals, anything you might need, even preparing land for next year," she said. "We're overextended on everything we have."

Agriculture disaster designations have been declared in Hidalgo County almost every year since 1995 or 1996, Lerma said.

State and local agriculture officials did not have local financial damage estimates, but the 10-year drought alone has cost the Rio Grande Valley $10 billion, according to Monitor archives.

The emergency loans have done little to help Donna vegetable farmer John Billman though.

"It's geared toward big, subsidy growers," he said. "There's so much paperwork, regulations."

This year's weather mostly spared his 100-acre farm of sweet corn, tomato, squash and other crops. But he said he needed financial assistance three years ago after heavy rainfall.

"It just wiped me out," he said. "I easily lost $12,000."

For more information on the loans, farmers should contact the USDA Service Center in Edinburg at (956) 381-0916, or go to the Web site at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

Monitor staff writer Matt Whittaker contributed to this report.

-----

To see more of The Monitor, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.themonitor.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)

More News in this Category