By Shelby Shank
Field Editor
For Brady Askew, a fifth-generation farmer in Lynn County, growing cotton is more than a way of life. It’s his identity.
Askew farms alongside his dad and brother-in-law, managing 12,000 acres of crops and cattle.
“It’s like any other operation. Everybody has their own opinions and ideas,” Askew said. “But you know, we work well together. We respect each other, and at the end of the day, we love each other and take care of each other.”
They primarily grow cotton, but also farm wheat, corn, sunflowers and raise Red Angus cattle.
“We’re constantly working the ground, planting another crop or a cover crop, gathering cattle or chasing kids around all their activities,” he said.
After graduating from West Texas A&M University, Askew knew he would return home to the farm.
“It’s been a part of my life ever since I was born,” Askew said. “It’s always been something I wanted to do. It’s just in my blood.”
From field to gin
This year, Askew grew 600 acres of irrigated cotton and 1,200 acres of dryland cotton, adapting his practices to meet changing weather and commodity prices.
He prepares for the next cotton crop as soon as the previous harvest ends.
“We chop down the stalks from last year’s crop, do some tillage and plant a cover crop,” he said.
Then, cotton planting starts the first week of May.
“It’s game on. You make sure that the crop has all the nutrients it needs to make it through the growing season,” Askew said.
By early September, irrigation pivots are shut off to allow the bolls to mature, and harvest starts in mid-October, lasting through Christmas.
Once picked, the cotton goes straight to the gin, where lint is separated from the seed and plant debris that might have been collected during picking.
From there, nothing goes to waste. Seeds are crushed into cottonseed oil, while the remaining hulls and meal become cattle feed. The cleaned lint is then pressed into bales, tagged and shipped to a warehouse where it waits to be sold.
Tight margins despite strong yields
Askew’s irrigated fields had strong yields.
“We’re seeing yields come back anywhere from three to three-and-a-quarter bales per acre, so we’re very happy with that,” he said.
Askew credits this year’s increased rainfall and late-season heat for those yields.
“We had more rain throughout the growing season than the last two years,” he said. “And we had higher-than-normal temperatures later in the season that helped mature the crop and make more bolls, so that helped our yields.”
His dryland cotton, however, told a different story.
“It’s producing between two-thirds and three-quarters of a bale per acre, which is about average given this year’s drought,” Askew said.
But even average yields aren’t enough to make the numbers work.
“It’s going to be tough to cash flow that,” he said. “We’re fighting some pretty low prices and high input costs. It costs a lot per acre to produce this crop, and the price just isn’t there this time.”
Those pressures pushed Askew to diversify this year, shifting 320 irrigated acres into corn to help manage risk.
Farming through hardships
Despite the hardships and low cotton prices, Askew can’t imagine giving up cotton entirely.
“It’s hard to think about not growing cotton,” he said. “I can’t say that I would ever give it up. If it got to the point where there was zero profitability, I guess we’d be forced to figure something out, but that’s not something I want to do.”
On the South Plains, cotton is king.
“Growing cotton is what I’ve learned to do my whole life,” Askew said. “It’s what we like to grow, and our infrastructure is built for it. That’s why they call this cotton country.”
Even with cotton prices being the same since the ‘60s and ‘70s, Askew remains committed to growing the crop.
“Because of the price and shifting demand, there are factors we can’t control,” he said. “I just hope there will always be a need for cotton. We just need a fair price for what we grow.”
Farming cotton has always been more than dollars for Askew.
“I’ve wondered before what it would be like if I had another profession, and I honestly don’t know how I’d do it,” he said. “I just love raising my family out here.”
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