By Haley Herzog
TFB Communications Intern
Severe weather this week left Texas Panhandle farmers facing damages to crops.
The spring season is proving to be a challenge for farmers and ranchers across much of the Texas Panhandle. The region has faced devastating wildfires, prolonged drought and now a round of severe storms this month.
The thunderstorms that moved across West Texas over the weekend and early into the week left behind golf ball-sized hail and decimated cropland.
Lubbock County cotton farmer Eddie Griffis farms in the region impacted by the latest storm. Griffis said that many other farmers are now faced with tough decisions as time runs out.
“There has been some weather around West Texas in different areas that has taken out crops and also taken out structures,” Griffis said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “It has been in different locations, and those crops that were in the path of these storms were pretty much decimated. Producers have been making the decisions on what to do with those crops if they’re a total loss.”
With the crop insurance deadline quickly approaching, this year’s weather has a majority of the West Texas region racing to replant, while praying they can maintain the few crops still left in the ground.
“To this point, my crops have been spared, but it’s one of those years that at any moment it could hit at any location and you just hope that it’s not your particular spot or anybody’s spot for that matter,” Griffis said. “Probably the biggest fear on the corn, sorghum, peanuts or any crop is going to be the weather, because it’s just one of those years you get up to 107 degrees, and the storms start popping up. And they’re not real beneficial.”
Despite the blazing temperatures and recent setbacks, Texas farmers and ranchers like Griffis are remaining positive about the growing season.
“Guys have been able to maintain, and surprisingly keep up, with the irrigation demand on those crops and it looks good at this point,” Griffis said.