March 22, USA Today – (Texas) Drought cost Texas nearly $8 billion in agriculture losses.
Agriculture officials said losses from Texas’ historic drought are more than $2 billion more than previously thought, USA Today reported March 22. The Texas AgriLife Extension Service now estimates crop and livestock losses at $7.62 billion for 2011. The extension service’s preliminary estimate of $5.2 billion in August 2011 already topped the previous record of $4.1 billion in 2006. Texas has a long history of drought. Since 1998, it has cost the state’s agriculture industry more than $14 billion. 2011 was the driest year in state history.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/story/2012-03-22/texas-drought-losses/53703926/1