The drought that has plagued Texas since Hurricane Harvey drenched most of the state has raised fire risks and could eventually cause agriculture to take a hard hit, Texas A&M experts say.
Since Jan. 1, Brazos County has only seen about 1.50 inches of rain, with the norm being around 4 inches of rain.
According to the Texas A&M Forest Service’s daily fire danger forecast, almost all of Texas — including Brazos County and surrounding areas — is in moderate danger of grass and forest fires.
Much of the state is under a burn ban, including Brazos, Burleson, Robertson and Milam counties in the Brazos Valley.
Mark Welch, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension grains economist, said the crops that are going to suffer the most are the winter crops, particularly grains.
Danger comes, too, if the drought extends, Welch said.
The La Niña phenomenon pushes rains from the tropics farther north and west, leading to drier conditions in the southern U.S. Texas does not drive the wheat or corn markets, Welch said, so the lack of rain might not be significantly felt by the average grocery store shopper.
With small profit margins, farmers often struggle, even with good quality crops.
"If they can’t make it with crops that are good, what happens when things fall back to being average or less than average?"
Welch said.