State farmers and ranchers need rain

Wet weather is a welcome sight for farmers and ranchers set up at the New Mexico State Fair - something they wish there was more of back home. Lately, the unmerciful drought has been eating their lunch. "Right here we have a multitude of ranchers who have already had to go out of business," Madalynn Lee of the New Mexico CowBelles said. Less rain equals less cattle. Even the most successful ranchers are having to cut their herds in half - sometimes even more. "We probably lost at least a good 60 percent more than half, because of the drought," Lee said. Ranchers are out at the state fair spreading the word: keep it local, buy New Mexico beef and the buck stays here. While New Mexico cattle ranchers are struggling to rebuild during this drought, other farmers said they are actually thriving currently. Cotton farmers have been ginning up their operation, even expanding their crops which thrive in arid conditions. "It is doing significantly well," cotton farmer Ernest Herrera said. Herrera said a new venture in cotton is bringing big bucks to New Mexico - all stemming from the tiny cotton seed. "Cooking oil can be made for human consumption and bio-diesel is also being made from the oil from the cotton seed," Herrera said. It's fueling hope, at least for the future of cotton. But for most farmers and ranchers hope is hard to come by, especially when water is becoming increasingly scarce.

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State farmers and ranchers need rain