It's the end of a challenging summer for farmers across the Valley, with little rain that has already evaporated away.

Travis Johnson is a family farmer who is looking at these fields, wondering what he'll plant next.

The tropical storm in August sideswiped the Valley, dropping very little rain.

"I don't think it's quite enough to significantly do a lot of good," Johnson said.

Sugarcane, a crop he'd consider growing this time of year, is too water-dependent for the months and years ahead.

Irrigation districts have been rationing water to farmers for the past year and some, like Hidalgo and Cameron Irrigation District #9, said they expect to be fully out of the irrigation water that's rationed out by the state within the next two months.

"The sugar industry and really all the irrigated other crops are all concerned about whether we're going to have water next year," Johnson said.

Tropical Storm Harold passed over the Valley's watershed, but it still wasn't enough to make a dent. The current lake level at Falcon Lake is around 258 ft, a small fraction of its total capacity.

Evaporation over the summer has taken a toll. The lake is down a total of eight feet over the last three months, with hot weather still ahead, making this season harder. 

"On a normal year, there would already be a lot of sugar cane being planted right now," Johnson said.

Johnson and other farmers are calling for federal officials to get Mexico to deliver water from its watersheds under a U.S. treaty, and they're asking for the delivery to happen before it's scheduled two years from now, saying Mexico's reservoirs are full.

"That's what we're trying to get the word out, hey we need water," Johnson said.

In the dryland fields and across the Valley's farmlands, tough choices are being made and with little water to work with.