A lack of water throughout South Texas means there is little variety in the kinds of crops growing around the Rio Grande Valley.

Most farmers are instead growing sorghum, corn, or harvesting hay due to the lack of irrigation water.

Several farmers said this is causing bills to pile up.

“You're going to be paying back the bank, you're going to be paying back equipment loans, you're going to be using the money for those kind of things,” Edcouch farmer Brian Jones said.

Jones is one of the farmers who applied for the $280 million in relief funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Department of Agriculture.

The funding was announced on March 19, 2025, to provide economic relief to farmers struggling due to the lack of irrigation water in the area.

Those funds will be d

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