by Bend, Texas (AP) – In a large part of Texas, the flooded rivers, which the municipalities devastated, also tore through farms and ranches.
In the city of Bend, about two hours north of Austin, Boyd Clark waded rising waters to help one of his stranded bouquet chickens. Matthew Ketterman spent several painful hours captured in the middle of rapids on his truck after checking the fences on his exotic play ranch outside of Burnet, about an hour south of Bend. And the crowded San Gabriel River knocked the Christmas trees on the side and the staff had to bring Streichzoo animals in a temporary pen on the Sweet Eats Adventure Farm in Georgetown, about 65 miles east of Ketterman’s Ranch.
While the authorities are working to understand the extent of the loss of human life – as on Friday, at least 120 people were killed, more than 160 missed – farmers and cattle breeders are working on evaluating damage to properties, harvests and animals. Many are faced with the task of taking care of cattle while saving the plants and cleaning the debris.
While many farmers rely on relentless optimism to achieve uncertainty, rely on the weather to live alive, extreme weather disasters such as catastrophic floods, droughts and forest fires can demand tribute. The weather events are also unique challenges that are relying on seasonal tourist storms or may not have harvest insurance.
It is a double -edged sword: Since some farmers are turning agritourism or niche plants to market -unable markets, climate change also increases many of the natural disasters that can make it more difficult for these experiments to be successful. Even larger operations are not immune; Farmers who produce all types of plants have to plan for emergencies.
“We expect it to happen again. It is never a question of whether, but when,” said Jon Meredith, co-owner of Sweet Eats, an agritourism outfit that mainly grows Christmas trees. “And so we just try to mitigate our losses and to reduce our risk of such events.”
Still convince the damage, start repairs
Sid Miller, Agricultural Commissioner of Texas, said that it was rained so quickly that some farmers in several counties and beyond the banks find a complete loss or severe damage to their harvests and infrastructure.
“We washed the river down the river. We had tractors under water so that they are overall and cannot use them. Irrigation equipment that was won like a bowl of spaghetti,” Miller told The Associated Press. “We find cattle dead on the trees downstream. So it is quite devastating.”
Miller said that farmers are available to resources. This includes the state of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund, which helps farmers to access disaster financing, the hay and food hotline that donates Animal Feed and the Agress Helpline, which offers support for mental health.
Now comes the task of cleaning up: repair of miles of the destroyed fence line, Tally Livestock and movement of leaves and mud on arrested picnic tables.
After a shocking night that was waiting for hours for hours, Ketterman, who got stuck on his vehicle, was lucky enough to be alive. But he and his team also mourned the loss of a member who died on the way to work at the floods. They also lost some animals through the agitated water.
“We are hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they know that at the end of the day it is only monetary and that we can recover from it,” he said.
Disasters such as floods can be difficult for special farmers
Small farms that offer visitors experience, do not sell to wholesalers or have no harvest insurance are particularly susceptible, said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the Entromology Department of the Michigan State University, who worked with fruit growers after flooding.
According to Clark, Straußbauer can access some programs from the US Agriculture Ministry that cover the loss of grass on the birds, but there is not much support. Strauss become too cold even in heavy rain. And it cuts egg production; The chickens almost stop laying eggs, mud and water, which few they do.
“It definitely affects our production this year and our profitability,” said Clark.
Burrack said that other cultures are submerged for consumption such as fruit and vegetables, they can no longer be sold. Unknown plants in fields can build up, cause pest problems or create an unpleasant experience for visitors. And as soon as immersed, “long -term echoes of these short -term stress factors” can make trees more susceptible to diseases.
Meredith said Sweet Eats was lucky that the Christmas season was still away for months. They still had the chance to rebuild the trees. They would have had it more difficult if they would still do peach trees as they had done in the past. “Because so much of our things is your own OWN. So if we cannot be open to customers, this increases the challenges that we face due to cash flow problems,” he said.
All farms have to plan for emergencies, climate change
It’s not just floods: farms across the country have scored hits in recent years due to extreme weather. Forest fires have steamed companies in California, including the pick-your-apple fruit gardens in the southern part of the state and the wineries in the north. Midwestern had an unusually warm winter in 2024, while the drought -on -cheek climbed together with many other cultures in the West.
It is a good business sense to observe how climate change affects your company and corresponds accordingly, said Rob Leeds, an expansion teacher at Ohio State University who works with farmers, especially those who are interested in agritourism. He described how some cattle producers in Ohio have observed a flood of tornados and strong winds in recent years who have generally built harder barns in the wind -whipped areas of the West in the wind -whipped areas of the West. Some agritourism operators on the subject of autumn have started to install fans and Mister, whereby they expected more hot days later in autumn.
It will take a while for farmers to recover completely in Texas, but some are already building more back. Ketterman said he thinks they will set up more robust fence posts in the coming weeks while securing the fence line.
They will also support each other. Many farmers described the close sense of community when they survived the storm.
“We all started calling each other to make sure we get our animals out and everything else we had to save,” said John Meredith, owner of Sweet Eats. “Just because this is a fact of life. If you live on a river, it is nice and pleasant, but occasionally things can go south very quickly.”
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Walling reported from Chicago. Amy Taxin reported from Orange County, California.
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Follow Melina Walling on X @melinawalling and bluesky @melinawalling.bsky.social. Follow Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.
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