Drought

• By Christine Souza • Editor’s note: This article is excerpted from the Ag Alert April 7, 2021, issue. To read the article in its entirety, go to www.agalert.com/archive/. With all signs pointing to a critically dry year in California, farmers are trying to add flexibility to help them make it through the season. Tulare County farmer and dairy operator ... Read More »

The State Water Project and the Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Central Valley Project, have both announced reductions in water deliveries for the 2021 season south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They base their allocations on current reservoir storage, precipitation and the amount of moisture in snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. The California Department of Water Resources, which ... Read More »

e3 Sustainable Cotton Farmers Receive Additional Rewards BASF recently launched the e3 Sustainable Cotton Grower Fund, a unique effort to provide additional economic support for cotton farmers in the e3 Sustainable Cotton program who commit to growing sustainable cotton. Brands, retailers, mills and other cotton fiber value chain companies sourcing e3 Sustainable Cotton will have the opportunity to contribute money ... Read More »

In 2022, it will have been 100 years since my great grandpaw, Gotleib Voigt, moved up here from Central Texas and bought some land on the South Plains. I am the fourth generation to farm the home place. Our family has always grown cotton, and it’s about the only viable crop option here in this region. In years past, I ... Read More »

Based on  below-average statewide snowpack, the Bureau of Reclamation recently announced reduced water allocations for nearly all Central Valley Project water contractors. Deliveries could change depending on precipitation received during the next few months, said Ernest Conant, Reclamation regional director. The California Department of Water Resources reports that as of Feb. 21, statewide average snow water content in the Sierra ... Read More »

Above average temperatures are exacerbating drier-than-normal conditions around the state, said the state’s climatologist. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service reports and experts say the hot, dry conditions are taking a toll on soil moisture levels and crops in areas that missed spotty rainfall this spring and early summer. Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, director of the Texas Center for Climate Studies at ... Read More »

A regional native and nationally prominent researcher in plant breeding has been hired as the director of the Semi-Arid Agricultural Systems Institute at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Dr. Craig Bednarz, an Idalou native, began May 1 in a joint appointment by West Texas A&M, Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo and the Texas A&M University Department of ... Read More »