GEORGE WEST, Texas -- The summer of 2009 will go down in history as the hottest and driest on record in South Texas.

The second straight year of extreme drought was particularly tough on farmers.

After watching crop after crop fail, some farmers rolled the dice and gambled their future on sesame seeds.

The lush green fields of sesame in the Coastal Bend turned a lot of heads this summer.

"We get a lot of phone calls and people stopping on the interstate to look and visit and see what it is," said rancher Stanley Schilling while standing in one of his sesame fields on a warm October day.

"Where we're standing, this is the third crop planted in 13 months, and it's the first one that emerged. Our core crops in the Coastal Bend had no moisture and failed," Schilling said referring to the failure of his corn, cotton and milo crops.

While most traditional crops withered and died under the hottest summer on record, sesame thrived. That's because it requires half as much water and needs plenty of hot days to grow.

"That's the one thing that makes it work during a drought is that it is a lot less water demanding and it has a very deep root, so it can stand droughts," said sesame farmer Wayne Mengers.

In early October, Mengers and his sons harvested their second crop of sesame. They grew their first crop of sesame last year after the drought claimed their corn and cotton. A friend suggested they try sesame, which was being introduced in the region as a secondary crop for the first time.

"We decided to give it a try. It worked pretty good as a secondary crop. So this year we ended up with crop failure again, and we put in a whole lot more as a secondary crop," Mengers said.

In addition to being drought tolerant, sesame is also cheaper to grow than most primary crops.

"It's not as expensive as cotton, not as expensive as corn or milo to plant," Mengers said. "The maintenance of the crop is not very expensive because we don't have to use any insecticides and so other than seed costs, land costs and harvest cost, planting is the only cost you usually have in it."

There are many benefits to growing sesame, but there are some drawbacks as well.

One big problem is sesame seeds are so small they can slip through holes in harvesting equipment. Mengers is making some extra cash on the side using his combine to help out other farmers who don't have the right equipment. Another problem is that the state does not offer crop insurance for sesame because it's not a primary crop. That means a farmer could lose even more money if his sesame crop fails.

"So we're afraid to gamble a whole lot on sesame unless we can eventually get insurance on it," Mengers said. "It's just a matter of getting the right people to start pushing on it and it will be available."

Sesame is being introduced in South Texas by an agricultural company called Sesaco. For several years they have been helping farmers in North Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas grow sesame. While 99 percent of sesame grown in the world is manually harvested, Sesaco developed a strain that keeps the seeds from falling out of the pod onto the ground, making it a more viable crop for U.S. farmers.

Last year Sesaco had just 15 farmers growing sesame in the Coastal Bend. As word spread of their successful harvest last year, 40 more signed on this year. Sesaco representative Jerry Riney expects to see that number triple next year.

"We're having a great experience here in the Coastal Bend," Riney said. "Sesame is one of the most drought resistant crops there is. It's very heat tolerant and I think it truly proved itself here in the Coastal Bend. We're having good yields come off such a tough year."

The harvested seeds will end up on hamburger buns, bagels or in a variety of snack foods and other products. American producers used to rely on China for their sesame seeds but Riney says that's slowly changing.

"We're changing our customers over from imported products to the U.S.-grown sesame and getting them to rely on the American farmer to grow their sesame. Right now there's a huge demand that we are able to fill," Riney said.

Despite some of the risks associated with growing sesame, many ranchers said the rewards far outweigh the risks.

"When you had two previous failures you know you're ready to roll the dice again," said Stanley Schilling, who's already planning to increase the amount of sesame he will plant next year. "It's a good catch crop. It's not going to bring you up to par but let me tell you the good Lord seems to reward those that make an effort."

Mengers will also devote more land to sesame and believes others will follow.

"It's something that if we can learn how to grow it, and learn how to get a good yield on it, it's something that we would like to put in as a major crop. Every year I think we'll keep planting more and more as we learn."