Craig Garnett|Leader-News
Cabbage plants in a field off Farm to Market Road 140 show distress from the recent cold snap that saw the area blanketed by several inches of snow, while temperatures dipped as low as 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
After last week’s torrent of frigid weather, and with the economic impact to the region hanging in the balance, area producers are hoping for a recovery as they wait to see the extent of crop damage.
With cabbage and onion crops in the ground, Winter Garden Produce owner J Allen Carnes says it is too early to tell how his 350 acres of onions will fare. As for the cabbage, he is seeing a lot more loss in the younger crops.
Carnes said badly-damaged crops could mean a severe economic loss for the area.
“This goes on past the farm,” Carnes said, explaining that major crop losses have a trickle-down effect from the workforce to the marketplace.
The agriculture sector extends beyond the farm business and includes an array of farm-related industries, from full to part-time jobs, manufacturing, and food services, per the USDA.
The industry also contributes to taxes and public services.
The storm also brought some infrastructure damage, and Carnes said they have been fixing pipes all week.
It was Monday before the staff at Cargil Farms was out to assess damages, and sales manager Nano Tafolla says they’re optimistic.
Cargil Farms grows crops in north, south and east Uvalde County, and they also have cabbage and onions planted now.
Tafolla said overall the cabbage quality is good.
“… The younger cabbage will not be ready,” he said. “The cold weather has stunted it. We feel, based on other freezes, it needs time to wake up.”
He said there’s a possibility that yields could be down, “but it’s not a total loss.”
With the storm damage, Tafolla said he does share a concern for the economic health of the community.
“Agriculture drives a lot of the economy,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are employed through agriculture.”
Over at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, where staff conducts scientific research to advance sustainable and profitable agriculture and wildlife management systems, their experience mirrors that of local producers.
Daniel Leskovar, center director, said many of their specialty crops were damaged.
“The most evident damage is in the onions,” Leskovar said. The onion crops were two years old, as part of a breeding program which aims to improve the seed production of a high number of breeding lines for onions.
He said they will wait and see if the onions resprout and if there will be enough time for them to develop and produce.
He said their artichoke crops were also burned, and some of the olive trees are showing signs of damage. He said the older olive trees, which are 6 or 7 years old, seem to be doing well but are showing freeze burn on the leaves.
Overall, he said they are seeing more damage in the open field and progressively less damage in the protected environment.
With the freeze throwing off the growing season, Leskovar said it could cause a delay in experiments.
“We may lose some… and we might have to regroup,” he said. He said the staff also lost a week of work, as the center was closed due to lack of electricity and water.
Leskovar said they also had some water pipes burst in the main building.
Tammi Johnson, assistant professor of wildlife disease ecology at the research center, is currently working on a deer tick vaccine project, and said when the power was lost at the center, the reproduction process of ticks she was housing in an incubator was disrupted.
She said the disruption will set her project back at least a month.
“It’s definitely a set back I was not expecting,” Johnson said.
Producer recourse
Earlier this week, Uvalde County Extension agent Samantha Shannon emailed a survey to area producers in an effort to quantify storm damage.
The survey included assessments for infrastructure issues, crop issues, animal issues and equipment and other losses. Shannon did not respond to inquiry about the number of responses received or an estimation of how much damage was logged across the region.
The USDA also announced on Feb. 17 that programs are available that provide assistance to farmers and ranchers and small businesses affected by the recent storms. To contact the local USDA service center, call David Yanez, county executive director, at 830-278-9197.
[email protected], 830-278-3335
