By Kay Ledbetter
Across Texas, alternative or nontraditional crops continue to find a significant role in many farming operations because they offer crop diversification or an additional opportunity for late-season planting after failed crops.
While some crops are limited by contract availability and marketing options, Texas producers plant almost 1 million acres of alternative crops such as sunflowers, sesame, Sudan grass, alfalfa and hemp, said Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist, statewide hemp and alternative crop specialist and professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock.
“Alternative crops in Texas, especially for those producers who are willing to take the time to understand and optimize production practices and marketing opportunities, certainly have a place in diversified farming operations,” Trostle said. “And we in Texas A&M AgriLife have the expertise to help farmers make those management decisions.”
While rains have been scattered around the state, he said conditions in the lower South Plains and South Texas improved slightly from severe drought. However, the Panhandle region has not changed much in recent weeks, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The 10,000-15,000 acres of sunflowers in the lower Rio Grande Valley, planted in February, will be ready for harvest in late June to July. Sunflowers in the High Plains, which are headed to the bird food market in Lubbock and oil crush market in Colorado, have kept acreage steady at about 15,000 acres and 10,000 acres, respectively.
Source : tamu.edu