Massive Texas floods could result in loss of crops

The drought in California has been the subject of discussion for the past few months. The state hasn't received the rain it's needed for 4 straight years in a row, and this year's rainy season has come and gone with disappointing results. Looking east to Oklahoma and Texas, you'll see that certain regions have been under massive amounts of water. While these states have also technically been in a drought for the past three years, the total rain that fell in Texas in the month of May was about 8 inches - that comes to about 35 trillion gallons of water covering the s, according to The Washington Post.

While the rain has been helpful in restoring reservoir and lake levels to healthy numbers, the floods have potentially cost farmers their crops and in turn, their livelihoods for the year. How will the crops fare when all of water dries and will the supply chains survive these deluges? 

Soaked through
As the citizens in Texas begin to dry out after the massive amounts of rain that fell in the month of May, farmers have barely begun to assess the damage done to their crops. Texas's primary crops include cotton, corn, wheat and grain sorghum, noted Texas Almanac. Should these be unusable, there are many industries and suppliers that will need to look elsewhere for these goods.

Some experts believe that the matured corn crops will survive after the land dries out, while the younger ones will probably suffer from nitrogen deficiencies and not make it to maturity, though it is too soon to tell, reported AgriLife Today.

Another issue that farmers encounter is land that is too soaked to even plant second-round crops. Many cotton farmers stagger their planting to manage crops equally, and the last few bouts of rain most likely closed that window for the remainder of the season, according to AGWeek. The cotton crop, already expected to be low this year, will probably only produce about one-third of the intended harvest. Not only that, but many farmers have already passed the deadline to collect on insurance for the destroyed goods. This is bound to affect the crops for the next few years, as premiums will increase while farmers might have a smaller budget for the next crop season.

Curtailed crops
For other crops, such as fruits and vegetables, thousands of acres have been inundated with water, wiping some crops out for the rest of the season. The Produce News reported that 30 percent of the spring onion crop was lost, while some growers lost their entire crop of summer squash. While this will certainly affect the local supply chains in Texas and the surrounding states, these farmers could be at risk to lose their farms if they can't afford to pay for the land and next year's seeds.

These floods may have strong immediate effects, but the long-term ones may be more hard-hitting as growers across the state trudge forth from the mud and attempt to take back the land that was stolen away by Mother Nature. Texas is no stranger to wacky weather events, but it is certainly not prepared for millions of gallons of water saturating the soil and ruining farm equipment. The supply chain will manage somehow, but it will take some time to find a new normal.