Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – A Texas AgriLife Research scientist said there’s potential for a  black grain sorghum hybrid targeting the health-food market.

 The job of keeping Texas’ cattle industry healthy and vibrant just got more difficult. In the past year, ranchers and state veterinary authorities have battled the worst drought in decades only to absorb massive a cutback in state funds to fight disease and maintain livestock health.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION—What’s surprising in early May is not that West Texas is so dry, but that the eastern half of the state is in relatively good condition, said John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist and regents professor at Texas A&M University.

Texas Business reports: SAGINAW, Texas—Horizon Milling will invest in its Saginaw flour milling facility, the largest flour mill in Texas, to enhance milling efficiencies and capabilities.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Though the overall percentage of the state is under moderate to extreme drought has continually dropped since September 2011, producers are beginning to worry that 2012 could be a repeat performance, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel. 

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION—Though large areas of Texas still remain stricken, the number of counties under drought conditions continued to shrink, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service reports and the U.S. Drought Monitor. 

Texas Business reports: WESLACO  –  The late March storm that pelted McAllen with hail and most of the Lower Rio Grande Valley with rain also turned the area’s onion crop on its head, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports: Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in Texas feedlots with capacity of 1,000 head or more totaled 2.78 million head on April 1, up slightly from a year ago.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Many livestock producers continue to make hay while the sun shines, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service reports.

With rains and warmer-than-average weather, cool-season grasses and small grains continued to show rapid growth, according to the reports. Producers throughout the state were taking advantage of the situation to bale as much as they could and rebuild hay supplies depleted in the 2011 drought.

Texas Business reports: SAN ANGELO – The new tax code change that now qualifies beekeeping as an agricultural use enterprise in Texas open-space land appraisals has generated a lot of interest, said Chris Sansone, Texas AgriLife Extension Service entomologist in San Angelo.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION — Much of Texas wheat looks better than anyone expected a few months ago, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agronomist. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION—Rain continued to push back the Texas drought, with most of the northeastern, central, southeastern and eastern parts of the state either out of the drought or merely abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor status report last week.

Texas Business reports: WESLACO  –  Citrus growers worldwide who currently have no cure for a devastating, tree-killing disease may soon find relief from an unlikely source: spinach. 

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Many parts of the state continued to receive heavy rains, bringing them completely out of the drought.

Other areas were not so fortunate, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

It all began with Ethel, a largemouth bass so famous that when she died at 19 years of age 1,500 people attended her funeral. She was named after the ornery mother-in-law of the angler who caught her in Lake Fork, Texas, and now her legacy lives on through America’s first, and most successful, bass-breeding program.

Texas Business reports: Two TCU professors have have discovered a 64,000-square-kilometer area, or roughly the size of West Virginia, in East Texas with high concentrations of toxic mercury.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – More rain came to most of Texas, improving drought-damaged pastures and rangeland, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – The fate for cotton prices this year will rely on traditional factors such as supply and demand, but the wild card is the outcome of Texas weather as the effects of the 2011 drought linger, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service economist.

Texas Business reports:  ATHENS—Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials announced that operations at the Dundee State Fish Hatchery near Wichita Falls are suspended effective immediately due to a lack of sufficient water.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Rains continued to improve forages and the outlook for spring planting in many areas, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Texas Business reports: ATHENS—Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) may temporarily close the Dundee Fish Hatchery near Wichita Falls during the upcoming production season due to a declining water supply.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Most of the state received rain the third week of February, further greening up pastures and winter wheat, according to reports from Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – In a study recently reported in the journal BMC Genomics, researchers at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, working with collaborators in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Texas AgriLife Genomics and Bioinformatics Center, have sequenced the first Quarter Horse genome – helping unlock the secrets of what makes this breed so unique.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION, Texas — An estimated 5.6 million trees that once shaded homes, streets and parks in communities across Texas now are dead as a result of last year’s unrelenting drought.  

Texas Business reports:  McALLEN —  A total of 14 citrus trees infected with citrus greening disease have been destroyed, leaving experts hopeful that the destructive plant disease can be contained.

Texas Business reports: A large portion of Galveston Bay is now open to the harvesting of oysters and other molluscan shellfish after DSHS testing in those areas shows shellfish are safe to consume. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Recent rains greatly improved soil-moisture levels in many parts of the state, according to reports from Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agents.

Texas Business reports: A team of Texas Tech University researchers were awarded $540,000 from the US Department of Agriculture and an additional $150,000 matching funds from the Beef Checkoff program to research and provide solutions for Salmonella in cattle.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Ironically, fears of another drought may result in fewer irrigated and more dryland cotton acres in the Texas High Plains this year, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert. 

Texas Business reports: AMARILLO – As the water goes, so goes agricultural production, especially corn production in the Texas High Plains. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Thanks to rains, more of Texas transitioned from exceptional to extreme drought, or from severe to moderate, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Texas Business reports:  Researchers at Texas Tech University and Iowa State University found that the pork industry can generally use less bedding year-round than it currently does when transporting swine.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION—Farmers, ranchers and service businesses that support them are suffering the negative effects of the drought.

 Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Many areas received rain, but the general consensus from weekly reports by Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agents was that more is needed to keep wheat and winter pastures going.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION—Like Old West cattle barons in a B-western, red imported fire ants are expanding their range and increasing their herds while laying wholesale waste to the range, according to an expert on the issue.

Texas Business reports: SOUTH PADRE ISLAND—An exotic, large species of shrimp is being found once again in the Gulf of Mexico and posing a potential threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimping industry, according to Tony Reisinger, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for coastal and marine resources in South Texas.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION—As many as 500 million trees scattered across the Lone Star State have died this year as a result of the unrelenting drought, according to preliminary estimates from Texas Forest Service.

Crazy Raspberry Ant

Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Travis County is one of the most recent areas of Texas to be invaded by crazies – in this case, Caribbean or Rasberry crazy ants, said entomologists with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – A new grain-testing program administered by the Office of the Texas State Chemist will bring consistency to the marketplace in light of aflatoxin issues over the past few years, according to its director. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Cold fronts brought rain, from a trace to 2 inches or more, to much of the state during the last week, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

The equivalent of a superhero for farmers and ranchers in Williamson County wears camouflage fatigues and boots. He’s a man who would rather be outside checking traps than inside shuffling paperwork. And by doing what he loves, he saves tens of thousands of dollars for Texas agriculture every year. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION — Rain came to large parts of Texas, an early Thanksgiving feast for already planted winter pastures, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Though seasonal ups-and-downs are to be expected, fed-cattle prices are being driven to unprecedented levels by several factors this year. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Fueled by declining beef production due to the drought and booming exports, fed-cattle prices soared to “unprecedented” levels, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Bill McKinley, director of the Benz School of Floral Design, demonstrates how florist can use free video chat systems to view flowers at wholesale outlets before purchasing. (AgriLife Communication photo by Mark Cornelius)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Of all the contagious things in the world, there is one people don’t want to avoid – flowers.

Fort Hood works to construct a green pump house with 13,000 feet of pipeline from a lake within the cantonment to the golf course irrigation system.

Texas Business reports:  FORT HOOD—Even when Texas is not in the midst of a drought, to  water a military golf course, costs money.  A great amount of money.

November rains came too late for most Texas rangeland, such as this stretch in Schleicher County, south of San Angelo, where the only things left growing are cacti and mesquite. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Charles Hart)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Large swathes of the state received rain, from slow drizzles to heavy downpours, but the moisture came too late this year for most rangeland, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Cotton regrowth such as this will have to be a part of producer's management plans as they prepare for their next crop. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Dr. Gaylon Morgan)

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Drought made it hard to grow cotton this year, but it is also making it hard to kill the cotton in preparation for wheat or other follow-up crops, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist.

Jamie Foster, a Texas AgriLife Research forage agronomist in Beeville, holds one of many legumes to be tested for use in South Texas. (AgriLife Research photo by Rod Santa Ana)

Texas Business reports:  BEEVILLE  –  Two years ago, when Dr. Jamie Foster was moving from Florida to become a Texas AgriLife Research forage agronomist in South Texas, her job almost hit her in the face, literally.

Texas Business reports:  A group of Texas Tech University researchers is part of a larger compilation of institutions receiving a grant to help beginning farmers and ranchers market their products and businesses.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Texas beef producers are exploring the use of whole cotton plants as a protein source for cattle due to extreme drought conditions, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports: The Texas Department of State Health Services announced that oyster harvesting in all Texas coastal waters is closed due to red tide, an algal bloom of Karenia brevis.

Texas Business reports:  AUSTIN – Texas agriculture stakeholders are bracing for cuts in federal farm programs as part of the 2012 Farm Bill, but there’s overwhelming consensus for continuation of support programs to protect against multi-year price declines, unforeseen weather events and rising input costs, according to industry representatives.

Texas Business reports:  FORT HOOD—Totally Green Inc., a provider of organic food processing systems and compostable packaging alternatives, installed two of its revolutionary ORCA Green Machines at the U.S. Army base in Fort Hood.

A farm crew worker at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton disks a Bermuda grass field in preparation for planting winter forages. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Nearly all of the state received rain during the last two weeks, but even where the rains were substantial, the drought was far from over, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service reports.

Ken Landon's water lily collection is the wettest thing around San Angelo these days. Photo by Ryland Barton.

SAN ANGELO —Ken Landon travels to far-flung jungles, rescuing water lilies from obscurity.

The High Plains has taken the lead in Texas dairy production in the past month. (Texas AgriLife Research photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS – A new leader of Texas’ $1.5 billion dairy industry has emerged. Castro County displaced Erath County as the No. 1 milk producing county in the state in August, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist said.

An oversized homecoming mum, worn by Claire Adkison.

AUSTIN — What has two cowbells, 12 jingle bells, two miniature Barbie dolls, lights up and sings “Jesus Loves Me?” That would be the homecoming mum that Stephanie Tamburello made for her son’s date this year.

A period of frequent Texas drought might "last another 15 or 20 years. It seems likely to last another decade," said Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION –Another year of drought, or even five to ten years more drought?  The first is highly likely, and the second, though harder to predict, a strong possibility, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist.

Texas Business reports:  Texas’ historic and lingering drought has already worn out its welcome, but it could easily stay around for years and there is a chance it might last another five years or even until 2020, says a Texas A&M University weather expert.

Matt Bonham, Texas AgriLife Extension Service assistant, Overton, checks out a red oak tree whose leaves are browning and dropping off early due to the drought. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – “Our trees are dying!”

Reports like this are coming from throughout the state, but don’t write off that shade tree or loblolly pine just yet, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports:  Sunday, the Texas Forest Service responded to 19 new fires for 137 acres.  In the past seven days Texas Forest Service has responded to 86 fires for 11,329 acres.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Many agricultural producers in East Texas are feeling caught between a rock and a ‘hot’ place, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Grapefruit matrues on Rio Grande Valley citrus trees which are expected to produce a smaller than usual commercial crop this year. (AgriLife Communications photo by Rod Santa Ana)

Texas Business reports: WESLACO—The Texas citrus harvest extends roughly from Labor Day into May, but this year’s crop could be short due to adverse weather, according to an expert with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Weslaco.

The dramatic difference between the level of Nolan Creek at downtown Belton can be seen in these photos. The top photo was taken during the 2010 flash flood; the bottom in the drought of 2011.

Texas Business reports: TEMPLE – Taking precautions for flooding during the worst drought in Texas history may seem unrealistic, but for a reality check, all you have to do is look at what happened in the Temple/Belton area in 2010.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – If you like leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and cabbage, you may find them to be in short supply this fall due to the drought, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports:  Areas of the Northern High Plains, North East Texas, the Trans-Pecos, and the Edwards Plateau received up to 3 inches of rainfall, while the rest of the state observed little to no rainfall, according to the USDA.

Cattle grazing winter wheat during a better year on the Rolling Plains. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Todd Baughman)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – After the failure of many of their summer crops due to drought, now producers have good reason to worry that they won’t make a winter wheat crop either, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Ranchers have been purchasing expensive hay, having it trucked in from out of state during the historic Texas drought. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Blair Fannin)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – The historic Texas drought has led to a record $5.2 billion in agricultural losses, making it the most costly drought on record, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service economists.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION—With little to no grazing and hay, should livestock producers continue to try to buy feed, move cattle to another state or just sell out?

Texas Business reports: WESLACO—Despite adversities, South Texas agriculture has an economic impact of  $1.6 billion and is poised to expand to help feed and fuel the world well into the future, according to a new study by a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agricultural economist.

Texas Business reports: Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Bruce Nelson traveled to Texas today to tour areas of the southern parts of the state devastated by drought and wildfires.

A farmer disks corn stubble in the Texas Blacklands. Most corn in the area either failed or had extremely low yields, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION – Recent predictions by the National Weather Service of a 50 percent chance there will be another La Niña in the southern Pacific Ocean this fall can be taken two ways — with optimism or pessimism, said Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas A&M University professor and Texas state climatologist.

Texas Business reports:  Areas of the Northern High Plains received up to 3 inches of rainfall, the Trans-Pecos received up to 1.5 inches of rainfall, while the rest of the state received little to no rainfall, according to the USDA's weekly Texas Agriculture Report. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – More than 99 percent of the state was in one level of drought or another by the last week of July, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Texas Business reports:  TEMPLE — The Lampasas and Leon Rivers watersheds have been listed as impaired by the state due to high counts of E. coli and other bacteria taken in the late 1990s, but from whom, what and where the contamination originates is unclear, say Texas AgriLife Research experts.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Matagorda County has been added to a growing list of counties with confirmed Raspberry crazy ant populations, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service entomologist.

Leaders of several state agencies charged with monitoring the impact of the drought believe Tropical Storm Don’s Texas trip may be too brief to blast the dry spell.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Texans are all but standing on the shores to welcome Tropical Storm Don to the drought-stricken state.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – Though most dryland crops have failed due to the drought, there were scattered pockets of production, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION – The Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Irrigation Technology Center-School of Irrigation will conduct a new course on solar-powered and other renewable-energy irrigation systems.

The Muddy PAWS limited-space urban garden at the Providence Apartments on Wall Street in northwest San Antonio. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service Photo)

Texas Business reports: SAN ANTONIO—Managing the Muddy PAWS limited-space urban community vegetable garden at the Providence at Wall Street apartment complex in northwest San Antonio is “a lot more fun than it is work,” according to Margie Noonan, a Bexar County Master Gardener.

The continuing drought and high temperatures are causing cattle water sources to become a greater concern, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Steve Byrns)

Texas Business reports:  AMARILLO – As the drought continues and temperatures remain above normal, cattle water is becoming a greater concern, especially after recent reports of cattle deaths in or around watering points, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist.

Texas Business reports: Areas of the Lower Valley, Coastal Bend, the Upper Coast, and East Texas received up to 1 inch of rainfall, the Northern High and Low Plains received up to 0.25 of an inch of rainfall, while the rest of the state observed scattered showers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

As the drought worsened and aquifers dropped, irrigators struggled to keep up with their crops’ moisture demands. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns)

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION — One of the worst droughts in the state’s history deepened, with nearly 98 percent of the state in one stage of drought or another, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION—More than $2 million worth of timber was destroyed last month in Jasper County, where thousands of acres were ravaged by just one wildfire.

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION — Much of Texas received rain in the last week. Most got only a trace, but from 2 to 4 inches or more fell in isolated areas, according to the National Weather Service.

Texas Business reports: Firefighters are expected to remain busy the next few days as dry lightning is forecast in the Panhandle. Since Monday, approximately two-thirds of the fires across the state have been started by lightning strikes. 

Texas Business reports:  Areas of the Lower Valley received up to 3 inches of rainfall, the Northern Plains and North East Texas received up to 2 inches of rainfall, while the rest of the state observed scattered showers.

Texas Business reports: COLLEGE STATION—Even with drought and high input costs putting pressure on beef cattle inventory throughout the U.S., the market outlook is positive over the next several years, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service beef cattle specialist.

Texas Business reports: The record-breaking drought has forced the state to curtail water rights on the Llano River Basin.

Texas Business reports:  The Texas Forest Service is battling four fires that have burned 2,600 acres.  The service responded Monday to new large fires in Palo Pinto, Presidio, Sutton and Knox counties.

Texas Business reports:  Though quail have been on the decline for the past 20 years, last year saw the greatest decline yet. Researchers at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech recently received $846,000 to fund three studies looking at diminishing bobwhite quail populations across the state.

Carlos Fernandez examines one of four bioreactors prior to growing microalgae for studies. (AgriLife Research photo by Rod Santa Ana)

Texas Business reports:  CORPUS CHRISTI  –  Just as corn and peanuts stunned the world decades ago with their then-newly discovered multi-beneficial uses and applications, Texas AgriLife Research scientists in Corpus Christi think microalgae holds even more promise.

Texas Business reports:  The Texas Forest Service is working on five large fires, including one new fire, that have burned 32,981 acres.  Texas Forest Service responded yesterday to one new large fire in Lamb County.

Texas Business reports:  A Mississippi firm won a $76,000 contract to cull mesquite and juniper from 778 acres at Fort Hood.

Texas Business reports: PLANTERSVILLE, Texas—All evacuation orders for the Dyer Mill Fire have been lifted, the Texas Forest Service announced. Residents are allowed to return home. The fire is 5,280 acres and is 95 percent contained.

This is tall grass prairie under multi-paddock grazing at the same high stocking rate, but dominated by highly productive grasses with few weeds, according to Richard Teague.Texas AgriLife Research photo.

Texas Business reports:  VERNON – A long-term study verifies multi-paddock grazing improves vegetation, soil health and animal production relative to continuous grazing in large-scale ranches, according to Texas AgriLife Research scientists.

Castor Beans

Texas Business reports:  LUBBOCK – Castagra, a Canadian bioproducts company, has entered into an agreement with Texas AgriLife Research, part of the Texas A&M University System, to test production of a new castor bean with less ricin, according to Texas AgriLife. 

 Texas Business reports:  The Vancouver-based Village Farms International Inc. is building a  greenhouse located in Monahans, Texas.  

 Texas Business reports:  The annual Cattle Trails Wheat and Stocker Conference will be held August 5 at the Comanche County Fairgrounds Coliseum, 920 South Sheridan Road, in Lawton, Okla.

A Prospective Wine-Grape Grower Workshop will be held July 20 at the LightCatcher Winery & Bistro near Fort Worth. The workshop will address necessary viticulture expertise, site selection, risk factors, labor requirements & commercial vineyard economics.

Texas Business reports:  Fort Worth—the Texas AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a Prospective Wine-Grape Grower Workshop from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on July 20 for people interested in commercial wine-grape production.

Texas Business reports:  OVERTON — Even after a two-year recession, the bedding-plant industry in East Texas has not slowed down.

Wheat yields are expected to be drastically reduced or non-existent in most parts of Texas. Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns

Texas Business reports:  College Station—After a huge 2010 in cotton, 2011 looks bleak, according to reports from Texas Agrilife Extension Service. Many areas received rain, but in most of the state the agricultural situation remained extremely dire.

orth Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River in Yellow House Canyon near Slaton, Texas

Texas Business reports: Because of the severity of the Texas drought, water rights have been restricted on the longest river in Texas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality announced.

Texas Business reports:  TNG Pharmaceuticals, a team from the University of Louisville that developed a vaccine to prevent negative effects to cattle from the horn fly, won the Global Venture Labs Investment Competition (Global VLIC), hosted by Texas Venture Labs at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

Texas Business reports:  Four Defense Department C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with U.S. Forest Service firefighting systems that were under the command and control of U.S. Northern Command have completed their support to the firefighting efforts in Texas, the U.S. Department of Defense announced.

Texas Business reports:  Wildlife specialists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) dusted portions of a 40,000 acre ranch in Texas during the last week of April to combat a suspected plague outbreak in prairie dog colonies. 

With forages in short supply, many farmers were turning cattle in on failed wheat, hoping to recover some of their investment from grazing

Texas Business reports:  College Station—Strong storm cells swept through parts of East and North Central Texas on April 27, bringing tornadoes along with some much needed rain, reported Scott Burns and other Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Texas Business reports: Through Sunday, areas of the Southern Low Plains, the Cross Timbers, and the Edwards Plateau received up to 3 inches of rainfall while the rest of the state observed little to no moisture, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Texas Business reports:  College Station—Dry, windy conditions today are expected to create ideal conditions for wildfires in the western portions of Texas, a situation expected to worsen on Tuesday.

Texas Business reports:  College Station—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded two major grants totaling more than $14 million to investigators at Texas A&M University for conducting research on Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) and feed efficiency.

Mexican Fruit Fly. USDA Photo.

Texas Business reports:  The Texas Department of Agriculture has established an 81-square-mile regulated area in Cameron County to prevent the spread of recently detected Mexican fruit flies.

Texas Business reports:  The Texas Forest Service has responded to 11 new fires on Tuesday (April 19).

Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Kay Ledbetter

Texas Business reports:  AgriLife Extension district reporters compiled the following summaries of the 12 Texas AgriLife Extension Service districts, most of which report extremely dry conditions, wildfire danger and high winds.

Not all dryland wheat is at risk, but much of the crop has been abandoned to crop-insurance adjustors due to the ongoing drought. Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Robert Burns

Texas Business reports:  College Station—Wildfires continued to breakout in many areas, but even without fires wheat farmers were feeling burned, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service personnel.

Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems

Texas Business reports:  Midland—The Texas Forest Service ordered additional aerial resources to battle the wildfires ravaging the state.

Steven Quiring

Texas Business reports:  College Station—A Texas A&M University geography professor is developing a drought-prediction system that could benefit everyone from ranchers in South Texas to weekend gardeners in Kansas.

Texas Business reports:  The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave research grants to two Texas universities to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products.

Texas Business reports:  As aging Texas farmers and ranchers retire, a new generation of food producers is needed.

Texas Business reports:  Airborne tankers drop fire-retardant on fires that had burned more than 100,000 acres by April 12 in Stonewall, Knox and King Counties.

 Texas Business reports:  Drought conditions are widespread across the state. As a result, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality informed water rights holders that the agency may need to administer water rights on a priority basis, if drought conditions persist.

Texas Business reports:  Plano—Dairy.com, a provider of dairy industry web-based software, released its milk manifest handling technology known as Mobile Manifest.

Fireblight

Texas Business reports:  Overton—A Texas AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist has begun evaluating new products, both chemical and biological, to control fireblight on pear and apple trees, according to Robert Burns of Texas AgriLife.

Texas Business reports:  San Angelo—With the return of warmer temperatures, most of the West Texas wheat crop remains marginal at best, and is failing fast, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agronomist at San Angelo.

 Texas Business reports:  College Station—The drought situation in Texas has reached the critical stage, says a Texas A&M University atmospheric scientist who also serves as climatologist for Texas, and the U.S. Drought Monitor has designated parts of central and eastern Texas as under “exceptional drought” in its latest assessment.

Bedbug

Texas Business reports:  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $76,358 grant to the Texas Agrilife Extension Service to implement new approaches in managing bed bug problems.

Pond and lake levels continued to recede as the drought persisted. In some areas, pond levels were down 3 to 5 feet, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agent reports. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Dr. Billy Higginbotham)

Texas Business reports:  College Station—Parts of East Texas and the Coastal Bend received from 1 inch to 1.5 inches of rain on April 4, but the rest of the state got only high winds and cooler temperatures, according the National Weather Service, according to reports compiled by Scott Burns of Texas Agrilife.

Bryan W. Shaw

Texas Business reports:  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed three Texans to the  Agricultural Air Quality Task Force, including one from a Texas agency that is actively bucking the EPA on air quality control permits.

Texas Business reports:  College Station—The nation’s supply of corn diminished significantly from last year, according to Texas Agrilife officials. U.S. corn stocks are 6.52 billion bushels, down 15 percent from a year ago and less than initially expected. 

Texas Business reports:  Plainview—The Texas AgriLife Extension Service will conduct Annie’s Project, an educational curriculum to help women learn the agricultural business, during April and May on the Plainview Campus of South Plains College.

The Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory has confirmed a positive case of anthrax from a tissue sample submitted from a Hill County beef cattle herd.This is a culture of Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax).

College Station – Sample tissue submitted to the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory has tested positive for anthrax in a Central Texas beef cattle herd, according to agency officials.

Texas Business reports:  San Antonio—The AgriLife Extension Service and others will be presenting a new educational series on the business aspects of running a small-acreage vegetable- or fruit-growing enterprise.

common myth is that it's possible to identify the breed of a given feral hog by its color and markings. "Hogwash," said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Dr. Billy Higginbotham

Texas Business reports:  Overton—Unitl recently, if anyone tried to tell you how many feral hogs there are in Texas, they were just blowing smoke, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife biologist.

Texas Business reports:  Amarillo—Essential natural resource knowledge for new West Texas landowners and managers will be the focus of an educational series to be conducted by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service on different dates in May at different locations.

Texas Business reports:  The Oak Farms Dairy plant in Waco last week voluntarily recalled  half gallon plastic bottles of whole chocolate milk, half pint paper cartons of whole chocolate milk, and half pint paper cartons of 1 percent chocolate milk due to the presence of Alkaline Phosphatase found in samples during routine testing.

Texas Business reports:  The Environmental Protection Agency has issued Section 18 permits to market Avipel for the 2011 planting season in Texas.

Texas Business reports:  With the Lone Star State exporting billions of dollars worth of products used to feed and clothe consumers across the border, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples encouraged other state agriculture leaders to join him in pressing the President and Congress to re-establish a cross-border trucking program with Mexico, the Texas Department of Agriculture announced.

Texas Business reports:  Sugar Land—Imperial Sugar Company announced that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share payable on March 10, 2011 to shareholders of record on March 1, 2011.

Texas Business notes this story by Cara Pallone of the Statesman-Journal:  After 56 years of providing milk to communities throughout the Mid-Willamette Valley, Mallorie's Dairy is closing. 

Texas Business reports:  Monsanto Company and Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, announced the open call for applications for students interested in pursuing research in wheat or rice plant breeding.

Texas Business reports:  LINDEN – The Texas Attorney General’s office reached an agreement with a Cass County horse seller that misrepresented the nature and health of its animals.

Texas Business reports:  A Houston maker of queso fresco and other Hispanic dairy products was sold to the Dairy Farmers of America Inc. 

Texas Business reports:   AMARILLO – Wheat streak mosaic virus is the most prevalent disease in the southwestern wheat producing region of the U.S., according to a Texas AgriLife Research scientist.

Texas Business notes this story by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:  A combination of factors — strong weekly U.S. export sales, solid domestic mill use, crop concerns and technical considerations, among others — has powered cotton futures to new two-year highs.

Texas Business notes this story by Rod Santa Ana of Texas Agrilife:  EDINBURG -- Hidalgo County's first farmers market is ready for a new season with new classes, new street signs, a presence on Facebook and a new market in McAllen, according to organizers.

Texas Business reports:  The O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at SMU Cox announces its first annual report essay, The Ascension of DFW – How to Keep a Good Thing Going.  

Texas Business notes this story by Thomas Kutty Abraham of Bloomberg: Cotton prices may decline as India prepares to resume exports from October and the U.S., the top shipper, harvests the biggest crop in three years, an Indian traders’ group said.

Texas Business notes this story in the San Saba News & Star:  A new voluntary cattle health program can help ranchers market their breeding animals by reassuring buyers that bulls are free of cattle trichomoniasis, an infection that can be spread during breeding, and which can cause cows to abort and take a long time to become pregnant again.

Texas Business notes this story by Ron Smith of Southwest Farm Press: Farmers likely will not see the high yields and top quality they had hoped for early in the season.

Texas Business notes this story in ConnectAmarillo.com:  ARMSTRONG COUNTY, TEXAS -- The problem of cattle rustling hasn't gone away.

Texas Business notes the Agrilife Extension crop report:  A "very unusual alignment of factors" means Texas could have an unusually large cotton crop that coincides with high prices in the market, according to aTexas AgriLife Extension Service cotton expert.

Texas  Business recommends this column by  Duane Howell of the Lubbock Avalanche- Journal:  A surprising cut in U.S. ending stocks for 2010-11 and a steep reduction in world stocks linked to prior-year revisions powered cotton futures to new seasonal highs last week.

Texas Business notes this story by Fox34News:  The numbers have sprouted, and as predicted, it looks like Texas is on track for a bumper cotton crop.

TexasBusiness.com notes this story by Jerry Lackey of the San Angelo Standard-Times:  Genetics from top selling and indexing animals and five additional Angora bucks were sold to Tajikistan.

TexasBusiness.com points to this story by Richard Porter of MyPlainview.com: If everything stays on track, the High Plains could be looking at a record cotton crop this year, according to area experts.

TexasBusiness.com reports:  Merrick Pet Care, Inc. of Amarillo  is extending its July 2, 2010 recall of 10oz “Beef Filet Squares for Dogs (Texas Hold’Ems)” pet treat (ITEM # 60016 LOT # 10084TL7 BEST BY MARCH 24, 2012) to also include 83 cases of “Texas Hold’ems” (ITEM # 60016 LOT # 10127 BEST BY MAY 6, 2012) because they have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. 

TexasBusiness.com reports:  The 30th annual Sonora Angora Goat Performance Test sale took an unusual twist. The genetics from the top selling and indexing animals and five additional sale bucks are destined for flock improvement in Tajikistan, a former USSR republic, according to an international consultant.

TexasBusiness.com  notes: Growing interest has been sparked by some success of winter canola on the Rolling Plains. At twice the price of wheat, it looks promising, but it also has twice its share of problems, Texas AgriLife Research scientists said. Dr. John Sij, AgriLife Research cropping systems coordinator and agronomist, and David Jones, a research associate, have been planting canola on the AgriLife Research station south of Chillicothe for seven years, reports Kay Ledbetter of the Southwest Farm Press.

TexasBusiness.com notes:  For the most part, hot, rainless days dried out saturated fields, but caused concern for some that the brief respite from drought might be over, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service reports.

VERNON – With a little cross-breeding and some determination, Dr. Dariusz Malinowski, Texas AgriLife Research plant physiologist and forage agronomist in Vernon, is trying to add more colors to the world of hibiscuses. Malinowski is working on breeding winter-hardy hibiscus in what started as a hobby about four years ago, but in the last year has been added to the strategic plan of the Vernon research program, reports Kay Ledbetter of AgriLife News. 

TexasBusiness.com points you to this Victoria Advocate story by Adriana Acosta:  PALACIOS - The port here is quiet. The waters are calm and only the boats that have returned from white shrimp season are docked, patiently waiting for next year's season.

Experts say the 2010 harvest could mean a bumper crop.