Bay City Tribune

There was an undertone of concern at this year's salute to agriculture luncheon Thursday.

While any year could be one of concern for those in farming because of the varied risks they take - weather, having enough money to invest in the year's crop and the market - 2009 is different, particularly for rice farmers.

LCRA staff recently warned rice farmers that Texas' prolonged drought conditions have lowered the levels of the Highland Lakes and water for irrigating rice farms could be curtailed.

At the luncheon there were copies available of an Austin American-Statesman article from last week that went into considerable detail about the drought, the lowered lake levels and the pending irrigation restrictions on rice farmers in Matagorda, Colorado and Wharton counties.

The article also mentioned how some in the Highland Lakes region blame rice farming for the dropping lake levels.

While those sentiments from lake area residents are hardly new, they still manage to rile most folks - in or out of farming - in the lower basin.

So, rice farmers are understandably anxious about the Lower Colorado River Authority board of directors meeting in Matagorda Tuesday.

The board will be considering staff recommendations that could substantially cut irrigation water supplies in 2010 to rice farmers, putting all plans for planting the next rice crop into limbo.

A meeting between LCRA staff and about 30 local rice farmers Thursday morning has given farmers even more reason to start hunting for the Pepcid.

LCRA staff told the farmers Thursday that a recommendation under consideration would call for severe irrigation water restrictions even when the lakes return to capacity, according to Mitch Thames, Bay City Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture president, who attended the meeting.

Thames said the farmers in attendance were stunned by the proposal.

He said LCRA staff indicated the restrictions were aimed at protecting the future water supplies for LCRAs municipal and industrial customers.

LCRA provides irrigation water to about 350 customers through 1,100 miles of irrigation canals in Matagorda, Wharton and Colorado counties.

Under current LCRA policy, irrigation water curtailment is triggered when the storage capacity of Travis and Buchanan - the two storage reservoirs in the Highland Lakes - drops to 1.1 million acre feet of water.

The two lakes' storage capacity is 2 million acre feet.

Rice farmers understand the need for irrigation water cutbacks because the scarcity of rain in the past few years through central and parts of south Texas apparently has caused what may become worse than the drought of record, Thames said.

What surprised them about the recommendation, he pointed out, is a scenario of getting less water for irrigation - and the resulting less acreage to plant rice - when the lakes are full.

Rice farmers in the three lower-basin counties are upset in the wake of Thursday morning's presentation.

The number of people interested in the water-curtailment issues could make LCRA's board meeting Tuesday a historic one.