Dear Editor,
I was missing my grandmother-in-law the other day and her stories of her family's ranch and mohair production in the 1950s. Tough work, made tougher by our Texas weather. Now the challenges for our ranchers are increasing by the year, including wildfire, drought, and extreme heat. As always, dealing with these challenges and ensuring ranching success requires innovative practices - like rotational grazing to give grasses time to recover and solar pumps that move water to holding tanks and troughs for pastures. But innovation takes time and money, and those are always in short supply on a ranch, especially on top of demanding schedules and limited resources.
Fortunately, the USDA made over $3 billion available for agricultural producers and forest landowners to participate in voluntary conservation programs and adopt climate-smart practices. The funding is provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate and conservation investment in history.
But did you realize that US Rep. Chip Roy co-sponsored a bill to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act? Roy refers to anything that can be considered climate change legislation as “hysteria” and “fetishization”. Those are not words that describe farming and ranching concerns over changing circumstances. Our Texas farmers and ranchers need more options they can turn to for help, not less.
Fazia Rizvi
