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Rita’s impact on agriculture minimal
Published September 28, 2005
Preliminary surveys of Brazoria County’s agriculture show that while the majority of the farming sector came away from Hurricane Rita unscathed, it is too soon to tell whether there will be any lasting impact.
The county didn’t experience significant enough damage to warrant federal relief and individual farmers’ insurance should be enough to cover any losses, said Janet Sronce, executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s Brazoria County office.
As of Tuesday, farmers had not reported any storm-related damage to crops or livestock, which is owed to the storm’s last-minute turn.
“Had the storm hit, we would have been in bad shape,” Sronce said.
While Rita might not have claimed livestock directly, there are reports that some died because of the intense heat during evacuation, she said.
Rancher Glenn Salyer said he spent two days before the storm moving his 200 head of cattle to higher ground on his ranch near Sweeny.
Rita skirted far enough to the east that flooding didn’t occur, but several tree limbs were knocked down, he said.
“As it turns out, I could have used the rain, but we didn’t get any,” Salyer said. “I just thank God every minute that that thing missed us.”
Michael Wollam, a fourth-generation farmer near Alvin, said farmers dodged a bullet as far as missing Rita’s storm surge that swamped southwestern Louisiana.
Rita’s timing made all the difference, he said.
“We were fortunate from the standpoint that our main crop — the first crop — had been harvested,” Wollam said. “We weren’t having to stay in the fields harvesting grain up until the rain started.”
Even wind damage might be minimal, especially in his rice fields, Wollam said.
Shattering, or plant tops being thrashed by strong winds, is the most common threat to crops during hurricanes, he said.
But Wollam estimates his fields have probably experienced more damage from hot, dry weather than Rita’s hours of wind.
The final toll won’t be known until after the second harvest, which begins next month, he said.
With no way to prepare the pecan trees lining the family’s eight-acre orchard, the Dohmanns of Alvin will begin harvesting next month with no setbacks, said Janis Dohmann of Dohmann Pecan Farms.
“The only thing we noticed were some small limbs,” Dohmann said.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates rushed to finish harvests last week because of concerns about its 7,500 acres of farmland, said Mike Viesca, a department spokesman.
“We worked as late as we could on Wednesday, but weren’t able to get to about 500 (acres),” Viesca said.
A post-storm assessment found no major crop losses, Viesca said.
Michael Smith covers business and industry for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.
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