Hurricane Harvey has threatened Texas’ agricultural
economy and is having devastating effects on farmers in the area. Texas
produces high volumes of cotton, wheat, rice and soy and is a huge exporter of
crops to many states in the United States.
As the flood waters rose the likelihood of damaging unharvested produce
increased. Described by farmers as a once in a decade crop, meaning a great
cotton season.
About 98 percent of the
cotton had been harvested before the hurricane but produce stored in bulk is likely
to be contaminated by flood waters. It was projected to be a highly profitable
year for cotton before the hurricane. The 2 percent that had not been harvested
is likely to be destroyed by highly contaminated water from flooding. Not only was the cotton
at risk but any other produce that has been harvested is at risk. Any damaged products should not be used for
human or animal food according the FDA. Some farmers are now describing this as the worst season they have seen yet, due to the loss of produce. Due to the significant loss Texas is taking on produce, the prices will likely increase.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/farmers-across-the-us-stand-to-lose-following-hurricane-harvey.html
It will be interesting to see how much of a loss this is for farmers after Federal Crop Insurance payents are made. The federal government offers crop insurance to a large percent of american farmers and Texas is the largest recipient of federal crop insurance. Such a policy means that farmers may not suffer as devastating of a loss as they may have if there was no crop insurance. This may lead to a future re-evaluation of how the governnemt insures crops especially when dealing with disaster relief.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Greg that it would be interesting to see how much of a loss farmers have after the crop insurance. The FSA site says that when a natural disaster occur, the Emergency loan program is there to help eligible farmers and ranchers rebuild and recover from sustained losses. For production losses, a 30% reduction in a primary crop in a designated or contiguous county is required, and losses to quality, such as receiving a 30% reduced price for flood damaged crops, can be eligible for assistance. The maximum loan amount for an Emergency loan is $500,000. As I said before, I think it will be interesting to see how much the hurricane is really going to cost the farmers.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post, I did not think of the affects that the Hurricane would have on crops. This also had me thinking the affects it will have on the animals and livestock in the Houston area. I have seen many videos and posts about people being forced to abandon their animals and the rescue efforts to try to save them. I do not think the loss of livestock will have a major affect on the United State's economy as a whole, but one article says that 27% of Texas's cattle will be in danger.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.agriculture.com/news/livestock/hurricane-harvey-wreaks-havoc-on-texas-cattle-as-ranchers-hope-flood-waters-recede
This is a very good point, it will be interesting how the state recovers. When I was watching the news a few days ago they were interviewing a woman with a farm in Texas with many cattle. She was devastated because almost all of her farm was underwater. Her cattle were standing on a small hill which was the only part of her land not underwater.
Delete