Hurricane Harvey wreaks havoc on Texas agriculture

Torrential rain from Hurricane Harvey is wreaking havoc on the largest U.S. cotton producer, hitting Texas at a time when many farmers are storing excess supplies on fields following a bumper harvest. At least 100 cotton storage modules -- capable of holding 13 to 15 bales -- blew away near the community of Gregory, Texas, said Jeff McKamey, a farmer who owns a cotton gin that suffered minor damage when part of the piping and roof blew away. The area is just southwest of Rockport, Texas, where Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday. The cotton that was not swept away by the storm may have suffered damage or be too wet to gin, according to McKamey. “We’ve had the most cotton ever in storage in the history of San Patricio County when the hurricane hit,” he said. “It’s just the worst possible time.” The strongest storm to hit the U.S. since 2004 has since been downgraded to a tropical storm and is threatening to drop several feet of rain. Grain elevators suspended shipments earlier this week as port facilities braced for flooding, storm surges and possible power outages. Flooding will disrupt wheat shipments through ports in Houston and Corpus Christi and impact grain elevators in the area, said Ben Scholz, chairman of the Texas Wheat Producers Board. While most of the state’s wheat-growing areas will not be impacted by the rain, cotton, soybean and corn producers further south will probably suffer damage, he said...more