Southeast Texas farmers see hope for crops after recent rainfall
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - The steady rain in Southeast Texas has generally been good for farmers in our area who are cautiously optimistic about what's growing in their fields. After a few challenging seasons, that's a welcome change. But getting the crops to grow is just the first step. Keeping it that way is non-stop work.
The welcome diet of rain and sun has left the fields in Fort Bend County with a healthy head-start to the growing season.
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"I think this area of the state is probably the envy of Texas, right now," says Jeff Nunley, Executive Director of the South Texas Cotton & Grain Association.
While no one is counting money just yet, the fields look healthy. The corn crop is nearing completion, as is the grain sorghum, while cotton still has a couple months to mature.
At an annual field day gathering in Needville for local farmers and industry representatives, the conversation is all about seeds and treatments designed to give the crops the best chance against disease and bugs, which is a daily battle.
"You're trying to control every single thing to try and squeeze every penny out of the crop that you can," says Rosharon farmer Daniel Mowery. "(It's the) same thing as every business. You're just trying to maximize profitability, but it is so much more than planting a seed and hoping for the best."
A good crop is vital to equalizing the math of being a farmer these days. Market prices have been low for a while, which means limited profits to pay for all the costs of growing them.
"We may have decent output this year in terms of production," says Nunley. "But prices are low, so you have to have a combination of those two things in order to do well in agriculture."
While many may not know a farmer, or even seen one, we definitely depend on the work they do. What happens there is hard work, from the manual labor to the constant effort to see there's something to show for it all, at the end of the season.