Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Texas Wheat Crop Is ‘Complete Failure’ Due To Drought

In the Texas panhandle, the winter wheat crop is being called a complete failure this year due to a lack of moisture.

Ochiltree County, Texas, farmer, Jason Schickedanz said, “The dryland winter wheat in our area is nonexistent.” Of his farm’s 2,500 acres of dryland wheat, he expects to harvest zero this season.

“What little bit of wheat we did have come up died in December,” Schickedanz said. That’s a result of the subzero temperatures, and no root system to protect itself.

More than 4-pernent of Texas is facing exceptional drought conditions. These hardest hit areas are experiencing conditions “very similar to the Dust Bowl,” Schickedanz said.

Almost 21-percent of Texas is experiencing moderate drought conditions, and 19-percent of the state is dealing with abnormally dry conditions. Drought free acreage only covers 22-percent of the state, according to the latest drought monitor.

Because of the dry conditions, Schickedanz said the irrigated wheat he currently has planted has required more water. More water means higher input costs, “especially with the inflation-driven rise in energy prices,” Schickedanz said. Additional labor is also needed because of the extra irrigation.

Fifth generation Lipscomb County, Texas, farmer Daniel Sell, said “We’re drier now than in the ’30s, but we do have better farming practices.”

Sell said some days 60-miles-per-hour winds kick up so much dust that “you can’t see past the hood of your pickup.”

Schickedaz echoed: “For the last three months there’s been only one or two days a week that dirt hasn’t been blowing.”

When it comes to harvesting his winter wheat, Sell admitted that he’s debating making an insurance claim. Others in his area have already done, due to the conditions of the crop.

He said perfect conditions remainder of the growing season would be “too little, too late” to fix the drought’s damage. “If I do have a failed wheat crop,” Sell said, “I might plant milo as a Hail Mary.”

On social media, Sell pleaded for followers to share a drought map splattered with shades of red and pray for rain.

He quoted Zechariah 10:1: “Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.”

A 10-percent chance of forecasted rain is something Sell “chalks up to the Lord letting me know He’s still there.”

“Pray for Texas, pray for Oklahoma, pray for Kansas, pray for everyone in a drought,” Sell requested.

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