Drought

• By Adam Hixson,  Lubbock, Texas • Weather is the most challenging obstacle that faces any farmer. Around planting time in any given year in the Texas South Plains, High Plains and Panhandle, about 4 million to 5 million acres of cotton goes in the ground. Cotton is king in this area. The 2018 season was probably the roughest planting year ... Read More »

When Bon Jovi’s hit song “Livin’ on a Prayer” was released three decades ago, it quickly rose to the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 chart on Valentine’s Day 1987, according to Billboard. The lyrics particularly appeared to resonate with hard-working people trying to “hold on to what we’ve got.” Today, the phrase “livin’ on a prayer” has evolved ... Read More »

In looking back at the 2018 season, a multitude of adjectives come to mind that describe the weather and field conditions. Wet, hot, dry, windy, sunny, muddy — they ran the gamut this year. Some areas fared well, while others did not. In Specialists Speaking, the state cotton specialists did a good job of recapping what they saw in their ... Read More »

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agronomists talk about this year’s RACE trials. • By Kay Ledbetter •  Much like producers’ fields across the High Plains, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cotton trials are seeing a significant difference in performance this year between dryland and irrigated trials. “While cotton can tolerate hot and dry conditions better than many crops, this year’s drought ... Read More »

• By Carroll Smith, Editor • Twitter is known for the limited number of characters allowed for messages. However, the social media platform’s required brevity was no hurdle for West Texas cotton farmer Shawn Holladay this spring. As he posted tweets from the field in southeastern Dawson County, there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about that required an abundance of ... Read More »

This is my 34th year as an agricultural consultant on the Texas High Plains. As I look back over those years, I am amazed at the advancements that have taken place. The way producers farmed 34 years ago is certainly different from today. However, one thing that hasn't changed over all these years is that water is a yield-limiting factor, and there is no substitute for water. Read More »

In a cascade of notices, the California Water Resources Control Board told junior water rights holders in the state’s major watersheds recently to immediately stop diverting water. The board says extreme drought leaves the watersheds without enough water to serve all water-rights holders. Cutoff notices went to about 2,700 junior water-rights holders in the Sacramento River watershed and northern delta; ... Read More »