Melvin Kreusler looks over his corn on Tuesday. Kreusler and others are currently harvesting their crops, most of which have been badly affected by this year's drought.
Today’s forecast is predicting an 80 percent chance of rain, but local farmers say the rain is too little, too late.
Crops have been hit hard by the area’s historic drought. So far this year, the New Braunfels has area has received about 6 inches for the year, more than 12 inches below normal, according to weather officials.
Melvin Kreusler, a New Braunfels farmer, is expecting crop yields only 30 to 40 percent of what he harvested last year.
“What can you say, if you’re a dryland farmer than you have to do with what the good Lord provides,” Kreusler said.
Not much rain was provided for this year’s crops, but Kreusler is thankful he’ll be able to at least field a crop given the extreme drought conditions. He says the reason he has a crop this year is because crops have been living off underground moisture accumulated during last year’s wet summer.
“Milo might do a little better, but last year corn was a lot better,” Kreusler said.
Kreusler begun harvesting last week and expects to continue until mid-August. Kreusler shares a combine with another family. Each helping the other during the annual corn and milo harvest time.
Comal County Extension Agent Glenn Avriett says he’s sure area farmers will harvest below average yields for their crops. He noted that milo or grain sorghum, as its otherwise known, is being harvested earlier than last year, when rain kept farmers from finishing their harvests in the summer.
“With corn, we usually average about 65-75 bushels per acre in this area,” Avriett said. “We did about 100 to 110 (bushels) last year because of all the rain.”
Corn is not as resilient a crop as milo, which fairs better in dry weather.
“Corn needs rain, so I don’t think there’ll will be much there this year,” Avriett said.
“It was a very poor year,” said Clinton Dietert, who farms 1,200 acres east of New Braunfels off Texas 46.
Dieter is hoping crop insurance will see him through the lean months ahead. Crop insurance offers protection for farmers during bad years. Premiums are paid by farmers and subsidized by the government, with farmers choosing the amount of coverage they want and the amount of premiums they are willing to pay.
All we can do is hope for a better year next year,” he said. “Even if you do everything right you still need water.”
James Wilson, an insurance agent for Agri-Insurance Inc., said dryland farmers covered in the New Braunfels region have been struggling.
Wilson said that dryland farmers depend on the weather to provide moisture to their crops, while irrigation farmers water their crops regularly. He said farmers in the New Braunfels area are usually dryland farmers because of limited water resources.
“It doesn’t have to do with how good a farmer you are,” Wilson said, “it’s just one of those years where you have no rain and that’s where we come in.”
