- Tropical Storm Alberto dropped several inches of rain on Coastal Bend crops.
- Orlando Cadena said the rain is beneficial for cotton, but not for grain left in the fields.
- Farmers will have to wait for the fields to dry before they can get into the fields to harvest.
Tropical Storm Alberto dropped a significant amount of rain on crops in a very dry Coastal Bend.
Orlando Cadena is a farmer in Jim Wells and Nueces County who’s welcomed the rain.
“So, this rain is actually beneficial to the cotton,” Cadena said.
Cadena doesn’t just grow cotton through. He also grows grain sorghum and corn.
"Essentially we'll lose some grain out of this whole deal. How much is - we don't know yet,” he said.
Cadena said he and other farmers started harvesting early which means some of the few grains left in the fields may be damaged.
"So it's typical. The grain's going to fall - some of it may sprout in the head causing more damage to the grain. So, we'll just see what we end up with these high winds still in effect,” Cadena said.
Cotton still couldn’t still be harvested. That’s because it’s typically the last to be harvested in South Texas.
"The later crop will help a lot more cause it still had some room to put on some bigger bulbs.Some of the earlier cotton may not see much benefit from it because it was pretty much done. But we will see some benefit,” he said.
Cadena said he needs to get in the field as fast as possible, but can’t until the ground dries up.
“It was a good grain year getting into this harvest season. Most of our farms got five to seven inches so we will not have the time to go in and harvest anything if we do get hit with this other storm,” he said.
Cadena said it may take some time for the ground to dry out before farmers like him can get a good idea of how their crops did. Until then, Cadena said he’s in a waiting game as another tropical disturbance develops in the gulf.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
