Low water levels in central and southeast Texas lakes means there will be no water released for irrigating rice this year.
The Texas drought continues in most of the state. In the movies, Texas looks like it’s always semi-arid, 
but much of Texas receives enough water to produce wheat and corn without any irrigation at all.
Rice is another matter. The rice-growing areas of Texas lie in swampy lowlands towards the Gulf coast. Even so, the lack of rain will make it hard to grow the rice this year.
Texas produces about 5% of the rice in the U.S. and the Texas rice industry contributes about $394 million to the economy.
Rice field photo via Shutterstock
You must be logged in to post a comment.