MARFA — At Wednesday morning’s meeting, the Presidio County Commissioners Court discussed how best to express support for local farmers and ranchers during the ongoing drought. A trend of dry conditions has persisted for five years, earning a classification of “exceptional” — the most dire category — from the United States Drought Monitor.
The commissioners heard a presentation from Esteban Mesa of the Presidio County Farm Agency. Mesa had recently met with tri-county judges Curtis Evans (Jeff Davis), Joe Portillo (Presidio) and Greg Hennington (Brewster) in the interest of putting some kind of emergency declaration but found that all three counties were already covered by drought declaration issued by Governor Greg Abbott.
The team discovered that the number of cattle in the three counties dropped by 60% since 2008. Portillo told the court Wednesday morning that he’d recently talked to a ranch foreman who reported that he was down to two-thirds of his original herd — and will have to liquidate the rest if there is no rain over the summer.
Mesa explained that even a wet summer is unlikely to reverse the counties’ drought designations. Getting back on track would require a long-term trend in the opposite direction. “The worst thing is that it takes multiple consecutive years of normal rainfall pattern to have an effect,” he explained.
While folks in the agricultural industry have been feeling the pinch for years, folks in towns and cities could also start seeing an impact. “It’s eventually going to affect our groundwater supply, which is going to impact everyone in the county,” Mesa said.
Mesa planned to meet with local producers later this week to discuss the issue and gather feedback, and County Attorney Blair Park drafted a judge’s order to be signed by Portillo. The issue will be presented again at the next commissioners meeting in Presidio later this month.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Deirdre Hisler thought that it was an important conversation worth extending. “This is just about showing a record of support to our producers and our ranchers, and I think it’s important that we do that,” she said.