TX Politicians Proclaimed That Industrial Hemp Was Drought-Proof. Farmers Found Out It Wasn't.

[hatrack]

When the Texas Legislature legalized hemp in 2019, state Sen. Charles Perry called hemp “the hot crop” — a drought-resistant lifeline for farmers. It got by the Senate and the House with unanimous votes. It had the backing of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. “Allowing the Texas Department of Agriculture to create an industrial hemp program here in Texas will give Texas farmers an exciting new opportunity to thrive — and that’s something everyone should get behind,” Miller told The Texas Tribune then. “It is all about Texas farmers and ranchers and seeing them prosper.”

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This year’s drought was the first serious weather test for Texas’ emerging hemp industry. And by all measures, hemp planted in Texas soil hasn’t been able to withstand the extreme conditions. “To say this is a drought-tolerant crop is not accurate,” said Bingham, who grows industrial hemp along with grapes on his Meadow farm, southwest of Lubbock. “We can grow dryland cotton on a year like this when you never have any success with the dryland hemp crop.”

The state is seeing its driest year since 2011, with more than 76% of Texas facing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. It’s had devastating impacts on Texas farmers who are reporting the worst crop losses in the country — yields are down 68%, according to a summer American Farm Bureau Federation survey.

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For hemp grown for CBD and for fiber, optimum daytime high temperature for production is 70 degrees to 80 degrees, Calvin Trostle, the statewide AgriLife hemp specialist said. But temperatures across the state this summer broke record highs and were often in the triple digits, compounding conditions that led to low crop yields When asked about the claims that hemp was drought resistant, Nolan, with the Texas Hemp Coalition, laughed. The characterization of hemp as drought resistant was based on trials in Kentucky and Colorado, she said — states with very different climates.

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https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/07/texas-hemp-drought-agriculture/

[Lovie777]

1. WTF? . ....

Are they that ................... never-mind.

[live love laugh]

2. So they basically did their own research.

First-hand experience is a very costly education for the uneducated.

Guess they will have to do more research until they finally understand how they have been lied to about climate change and by whom.