• LESLIE WILBER - VICTORIA ADVOCATE
• Originally published July 24, 2008 at 11:29 p.m., updated July 24, 2008 at 11:29 p.m.

This week’s rain stalled the local cotton and sorghum grain harvest.

“You can’t harvest either of those if it’s raining or the ground is wet,” said Joe Janak, Victoria County extension agent.

Wet grain molds and rots in storage. It’s possible to dry grain that has more than a 14 percent moisture content, he said, but it’s expensive.

And he compared wet cotton to laundry left in the washing machine too long.

“Wet clothes mildew,” he said.

Drought conditions earlier this year have left Victoria County farmers with few crops remaining in the fields this July. Typically, farmers harvest grain sorghum through August, but Janak said the crop is about 95 percent picked.

While Dolly damaged cotton and grain sorghum farther south, Janak doubts that will affect local farmers.

Last year, Victoria County lost the vast majority of its grain crops, he said.

“It didn’t make a bit of difference to anybody,” he said.

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