LivestockConfirmed New World screwworm infestations in the US reached 116, with 56 still active, a rise of nearly 47% in a week, according to USDA data cited by animal health officials.
LivestockA USDA loan guarantee will back a $24.6 million commercial loan for a locally owned beef processing plant in Dimmitt, Texas, set up by 36 cattle-raising investors to process about 400 head a day.
LivestockUSDA confirmed New World screwworm in a hunter-harvested elk in Pecos County, Texas, as New Mexico reported a new cattle case and weekly US detections rose to six.
CropsUSDA projects Southwest upland cotton abandonment at 34%, up from about 24% last season, with regional output down 23% and yields the lowest since 2003/04.
LivestockThe grant, the largest federal award in the university's history, helps fund a $19.5 million Center for Beef Cattle Research and Innovation with 90 research pens and 45 commercial-scale pens in the Texas Panhandle.
EnvironmentIrrigation in Hockley County, Texas, peaked decades ago, and weakening wells threaten to turn drip systems costing about $1,500 an acre into stranded assets, says adviser John Duff.
LivestockThe Texas Department of Agriculture's Del Rio Livestock Export Facility has reopened to horse exports after talks between USDA's APHIS and Mexico's SENASICA, with extra checks for New World screwworm.
CropsPlains Cotton Growers met about 26 lawmakers and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to push for a completed farm bill, emergency help and drought assistance as low margins squeeze producers.
CropsHagen Hunt, president of the Texas Corn Producers Association, says this year's drought in the northwest of the state is worse than 2011, while diesel and input costs rule out breaking even.
CropsPlains Cotton Growers says dryland fields suffered most after a promising start, in a region that grows about 35% of US cotton.
LivestockUSDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission released another New World screwworm zone on 21 September; the Santa Teresa port reopens to Mexican cattle on 24 September.
A Cross Timbers study found cattle and goats eat different plants through the year, so running both on the same Texas rangeland uses more of the forage, applies browsing pressure to invasive brush and adds resilience in drought.
CropsTexas crop reports describe a season split in two, with dryland cotton and sorghum failing under heat above 100F in the High and Rolling Plains while rice growers on the coast lost yield to cloud and rain, and ranchers everywhere feeding hay early.
