Rains bring relief to an El Niño year

The year started out as a harbinger of El Niño-caused farm losses but officials are optimistic that things could turn out better than initially expected even as the weather phenomenon strengthens next year.

While the outlook is still for dry weather up to the middle of next year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala noted that storms late in the year—which added to the sector’s woes—would allow farmers to recover from setbacks earlier in 2015.