Left Out to Dry: How the Texas Rice Belt Could Vanish
LCRBC: Save Lives & Property – Provide Flood Data
August 4, 2021Daniel Berglund, a rice farmer for almost 40 years, climbs into his green-and-yellow 2014 John Deere model 8335R tractor in early May, turns on the ignition, and begins his day. As the tractor—which he bought used to save money—rumbles to life, the computer screen to the right of the large black steering wheel lights up, revealing a map of the 100 acres he leases in Wharton County, a sleepy place southwest of Houston’s sprawl. On the map are GPS-generated contour lines indicating where he should create this year’s dirt levees.
Left Out to Dry: How the Texas Rice Belt Could Vanish
Texas Observer
Daniel Berglund, a rice farmer for almost 40 years, climbs into his green-and-yellow 2014 John Deere model 8335R tractor in early May, turns on the ignition, and begins his day. As the tractor—which he bought used to save money—rumbles to life, the computer screen to the right of the large black steering wheel lights up, revealing a map of the 100 acres he leases in Wharton County, a sleepy place southwest of Houston’s sprawl. On the map are GPS-generated contour lines indicating where he should create this year’s dirt levees.
He shifts the four-wheel-drive tractor into gear and methodically drives it across the field, which is covered in 4-inch-tall bright-green blades of basmati rice he planted two weeks earlier. Periodically, Berglund glances at the digital display that shows his tractor’s path in real time to confirm he’s following the prescribed lines to create levees with a 2.4-inch drop between them.