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Recent storms impacting Central Texas crops

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MCGREGOR, Texas — Central Texas has seen anywhere from a few inches of rain, all the way up to 20 inches over the last month, and that’s had a positive and negative impact in the area.

“A year ago when we were heading into summer into our hottest months with the highest level of water usage, we were at a deficit already," said Senior Public Information and Communication Specialist with the City of Waco, Jessica Emmett Sellers.

"Right now because we’re at a surplus, that’s definitely a better situation heading into the summer."

But all this rain has not been the best for some farmers, like Kevin Huffman with Kevin Huffman Farms over in McGregor.

“We’re out of the drought now — we have definitely broke the drought," he said.

Recent rains have stunted the growth of some of his corn.

"Any type of plant or flower, you over water it, you’ll see the results of it — that’s what we’re seeing with our crops," Huffman said.

"Currently we’re trying to harvest wheat crop,so it’s time to get the combines in and harvest the wheat, so that’s kind of our concern right now because we’re not getting in the fields because it’s too wet.”

Hail and high winds have also damaged crops — with it being so wet, he has not been able to plant cotton yet.

“Long term wise, we’ll get through this and we’ll harvest what we harvest," he said.

But His farm was not the only farm that saw damage from the recent storms. Huffman said other farms were also impacted with differing degrees of damage. He said farms where the ground stayed wet longer probably saw more damage.

But as a local farmer, he knows weather can be unpredictable in Central Texas.

"When you deal with it everyday in agriculture, you notice it more," Huffman said.

He said the rains haven’t been all bad, though.

“We can fill up our soil profile — farmers-wise that’s good that we get soil profile filled up," Huffman said.

"The other great thing is the lakes in the area have filled up now."

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