Texas farmers hope new growing season bring more success after devastating drought
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - Texas farmers are replanting their fields, for the first time since last summer's devastating drought severely damaged their crops.
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Over the last month, corn and sorghum crops have been planted. Now, they are focusing on the cotton crop, which Texas produces more of, than any other state.
Before they go into the ground, the seeds are covered in a hard, blue shell of insecticide and fungicide treatments that are designed to give the seed a fighting chance to grow.
In a Fort Bend County field, a massive planter rumbles between the rows, putting 42,000 seeds into every acre.
Needville farmer Paul Freund, who's been working these fields all his life, can only hope this season will be one of the good ones.
"This is my 48th crop, and there's no two alike," he says. "Some are easier, some are harder, but most of it's out of your hands, so you just do the best you can."
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Last summer, Freund's thousand acres of corn, sorghum, and cotton were damaged by the drought, leaving yields half of what he planned.
Expensive necessities, like fuel and fertilizer, have moderated in recent months, but still remain high. So, too, do rising interest rates, which can squeeze farmers' finances.
It can cost a thousand of dollars, an acre, just to plant.
"It takes a lot of capital to farm," says Freund. "So, they borrow a lot of money, and with the interest rates up, that adds to the whole scene."
Then there's the question of rain, to nurture the freshly planted seeds. Off-season moisture did improve, but now that crops have been planted, they'll be thirsty for more.
"We're not getting anything here, lately," says Freund. "A few tenths, here; a few tenths, there; We need some rain, and we really need some now."
The cotton seeds that have just been planted should sprout in a week to 10 days. That's when Paul Freund will have a baseline of how all his crops are starting. After that, the weather, the yield from those fields, and the prices he gets for them are all out of his control.