AgricultureID

State · US-TX

Texas

Texas spans humid subtropical (Cfa) conditions in the east to semi-arid (BSk/BSh) and hot-desert (BWh) conditions in the west and far west, with rainfall declining steeply from east to west. This gradient underlies a shift from row crops in the east to ranching and irrigated cropping in the west.

Major crop systems

  • Cotton — the leading producing state, centred on the High Plains
  • Grain sorghum, wheat, and maize
  • Gulf Coast rice and Lower Rio Grande Valley citrus and winter vegetables

Major livestock systems

  • Beef cattle — the largest cattle inventory of any state, from cow–calf ranching to Panhandle feedlots
  • Sheep and meat/mohair goats on the Edwards Plateau
  • Broiler poultry in the east and expanding Panhandle dairy

Agricultural land: Texas has more land in farms and ranches than any other state; vast rangelands cover the west and center, with intensive cropping on the irrigated High Plains, the Blackland Prairie, the Gulf Coast, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Irrigation: Irrigation is important on the High Plains (Ogallala Aquifer) and in the Rio Grande valley, but much of the state is rainfed rangeland and dryland crop.

Agroecological zones: Cfa (Humid subtropical), BSk (Cold semi-arid (steppe)), BSh (Hot semi-arid (steppe)), BWh (Hot desert)

Documented crops & livestock

Official institutions

  • Texas Department of Agriculture — State department for agriculture, marketing, and regulatory programs.
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service — Land-grant research and extension for crops, livestock, and range management.
  • USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) — Official state-level crop, livestock, and Census of Agriculture statistics, published through its regional field office network.

Data coverage & limitations

Descriptive profile; subnational statistics for Texas are published by USDA NASS and the Texas Department of Agriculture and are not reproduced numerically here.

  • Boundaries and administrative classification follow the ISO 3166-2 subdivision system and USDA/state reporting units.
  • No subnational statistics are reproduced here; any official figures are dated, versioned, and periodically revised — read them with their year and source.
  • Texas is climatically and agriculturally vast; a single profile spans humid eastern row crops, semi-arid western ranching, and irrigated High Plains and Rio Grande valley systems.

Agricultural authority

Verified against official government sources. AgricultureID is independent and not affiliated with these bodies.

Soils documented by the official survey

The soil survey maps 1,565 named soil bodies in Texas, with surface pH from 3.4 to 9.0 and organic matter from 0.0% to 85.0%. The twenty appearing in the most mapped units are shown; each figure is the survey’s representative value for that soil body, not a measurement.

Soil bodies mapped in Texas, with representative surface properties from the official survey
Soil bodypHOrganic matter %Clay %DrainageMap units
Urban land———Very poorly drained368in 47 survey areas
Rock outcrop—0.25—Excessively drained to Well drained290in 80 survey areas
MilesAlfisols70.756.5–13Well drained143in 36 survey areas
CrockettAlfisols6.5–6.71.2512.5–22Moderately well drained116in 41 survey areas
WilsonAlfisols6.51.2520–31Moderately well drained111in 42 survey areas
HeidenVertisols8.22–2.550Well drained109in 28 survey areas
PotterAridisols7.9–8.20.75–3.917.5–28Well drained102in 46 survey areas
MobeetieInceptisols8.20.7510–14Well drained101in 30 survey areas
BerdaInceptisols8–8.20.55–0.915–25Well drained95in 38 survey areas
VernonInceptisols8–8.21.25–2.7537.5–50Well drained89in 38 survey areas
PitsEntisols6.5–8.30.05–0.752.5–22Moderately well drained to Well drained81in 71 survey areas
VealInceptisols7.8–8.20.55–1.514–27.5Well drained81in 33 survey areas
BippusMollisols7.2–81.5–2.514–31Well drained76in 43 survey areas
BurlesonVertisols7250Moderately well drained74in 37 survey areas
Houston BlackVertisols7.9354–55Moderately well drained74in 29 survey areas
AmarilloAlfisols7.2–7.50.6–0.99–16.1Well drained71in 24 survey areas
OltonMollisols7–7.21.46–2.820.2–30.5Well drained71in 28 survey areas
EckrantMollisols7.3–7.84.5–6.540–50Well drained68in 22 survey areas
LewisvilleMollisols8.2231–47Well drained68in 24 survey areas
KnocoEntisols7.9–8.20.75–1.2537.5–50Well drained67in 31 survey areas

These values describe soil bodies a survey has mapped, not samples taken in a particular field. A measurement on one farm may differ from the representative value of the map unit containing it.

AgricultureID does not infer crop suitability from soil observations. That a crop is grown where a soil occurs is not evidence that the soil suits it, and no such link is published without a source that makes it. How these observations are recorded.

Climate and drought

Drought assessment, week of 2026-08-25

assessment

57.4% of Texas’s land area was assessed as being in drought (D1 or worse) for the week of 2026-08-25 to 2026-08-31.

No category
9.9%
D0 · not drought
32.7%
D1
35.2%
D2
11.7%
D3
8.0%
D4
2.5%

D0 is abnormally dry and is counted separately: the Drought Monitor treats it as a precursor to drought and a category areas pass through while recovering.

The Drought Monitor is drawn each week by an author who weighs several indicators together with reports from local observers. It is an assessment of conditions, not an instrument reading, and each map applies to one week.

Climate normals, 1991–2020

normal

73 stations in Texas publish a full-standard 1991–2020 normal. Each describes its own site; none is an average for the state.

StationMean tempPrecipitationDays ≤ 32°F
ABILENE RGNL AP, TX US66.0°F25.24 in47.7
AMARILLO, TX US58.7°F19.66 in107.9
ASPERMONT, TX US63.6°F23.60 in72.5
AUSTIN-CAMP MABRY, TX US70.0°F36.25 in11.9
BEAUMONT RSCH CTR, TX US68.9°F61.95 in12.6
BLANCO, TX US65.5°F34.81 in44.0
BOERNE, TX US66.5°F37.52 in39.7
BOYS RCH, TX US58.3°F18.82 in122.0

Eight of 73 stations shown.

A climate normal is what 1991–2020 averaged to at that station. It is not what any year was and not what any year will be; a season that matches it is ordinary, not forecast.

How these figures are produced, and what they do not say

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]USDA NASS — National Agricultural Statistics Service (opens in a new tab)

    USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Official state agricultural statistics

    Type:
    Government agency
    Jurisdiction:
    United States
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]USDA — U.S. Department of Agriculture (opens in a new tab)

    United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Federal agricultural context

    Type:
    Government agency
    Jurisdiction:
    United States
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12