An agriculture legend in Texas says he did not hit the jackpot this year.
It has not been the best year ever for Rodriguezville Farm in Santa Rosa, Texas. The bottom line is not as nice as was expected at the outset of this turbulent year.
“The season is over,” George Rodriguez states. “We’re not going to make a profit we’re going to be breaking even because everything’s very expensive: fertilizer, seeds, and plus the diesel was low.”
Coronavirus, floods, and overall uncertainty put the farm in a position where it could not produce.
According to Rodriguez, “It’s an experience for me, because I hadn’t ever seen this going on. I do my farming and I look like I’m not a good farmer because I can’t produce what my daddy used to do.”
Historically, members of the south Texas ag community have been able to go outside of the American border for business. However, Rodriguez was unable to do that: “We don’t have much like cotton. You saw it down here in the valley. They were destroying it because of the water, the storm we had.”
Without much of a product to provide Mexican traders, Rodriguez and other farmers missed out on the changes to make a profit from an important ally. “Mexico is our right hand arm to where we tried to do our production. We had a demand; we’ll sell it into Mexico...”
He says now it is time to clear out the fields and try again next year.