Hagen Hunt, president of the Texas Corn Producers Association, says the drought on his farm in Hale and Swisher counties in northwest Texas is the worst of his 17 seasons, and he expects to harvest about 30% of a normal yield.

"It's been brutal," Hunt said. The only comparable year he remembers is 2011, but that drought followed one of the wettest years on record, so the soil held some moisture. This year a few rains around May planting got the crops up, then stopped, and he fought all summer to keep crops alive with no subsoil moisture. He grows corn, cotton, milo and wheat and runs cattle.

Costs are adding to the damage. Hunt said input costs against commodity prices mean farmers are "planting a crop, hoping to break even", and that with seed, chemicals and other inputs already spent, what little crop he has will not break even. Diesel, he said, is over $5, and worse in some areas. Input prices, he added, follow commodity prices up but never fall with them.

USDA's September 11 Crop Production report forecast Texas corn yields at 114 bushels an acre in 2026, down 21 from 135 in 2025, with 241.68 million bushels expected from 2.12 million acres. The latest Crop Progress report rated 35% of Texas corn poor or very poor, 52% of cotton and 29% of sorghum.

Rain has been patchy: Hunt has had about 2 inches around Plainview in the past 15 days while areas east toward Tulia have had none. He has been sowing wheat for the past couple of weeks and hopes forecast rains will recharge the soil profile and bring the wheat up.

"If you're farming, you just love it, and it's a challenge," he said.

Photo: USDA photo by Bob Nichols / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: Successful Farming