The severe drought in Texas has caused an estimated $5.2 billion in crop and livestock losses this agricultural season, a record-high figure that could continue to rise, state officials said Wednesday. Agricultural economist David Anderson said surveys indicate livestock losses of $2.1 billion and crop losses of $3.1 billion in the southern U.S. state. By the time crops have been harvested, the losses could be higher, he said. The previous record annual loss was $4.1 billion for the 2006 growing season, Texas agricultural officials said. This year, drought has spread over much of the southern United States, leaving Oklahoma the driest it has been since the 1930s and setting records from Louisiana to New Mexico. But the situation is especially severe in Texas, which is the country's second-biggest agriculture state behind California. Texas leads the United States in cotton and cattle production. But some parts of the state have not had rain since last autumn, and forecasters expect the Texas drought to persist through September. This year, crops and rangeland across the state have been scorched from a lack of rainfall and record-high temperatures. Most of the state has been in the two worst stages of drought since early May, which means there has been complete or near complete crop failure or there has been no food for grazing livestock. Texas is in its most severe one-year drought on record. The state would need more than 11 centimeters of rain in the next two months to avoid breaking the 1956 record for driest 12 consecutive months.
