By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

The first cotton bale in the nation for the 2026 growing season was harvested by Cameron County Farm Bureau Director Buck Rhyner.

Drought conditions and ongoing water concerns created challenges early in the season, but timely irrigation and spring rainfall helped the crop.

“It was super dry down here, probably the driest I’ve ever seen it,” Rhyner said. “Of course, we have the water woes—issues with Mexico delivering water and a general drought. We worked our land early, and we maintained the little bit of moisture that we’d received in the fall, but it was dry.”

Rhyner and his sons decided to make a run at harvesting the first bale of the year and planted earlier than normal in February.

Dry conditions persisted until April when much-needed rainfall arrived around Easter.

The rain helped the crop, but it also created new challenges.

For the first time, they had to use a drone to spray because the fields were too wet for ground equipment.

“We sprayed it twice with a drone, which we’d never done before, because it was so wet,” Rhyner told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “We couldn’t get in there by ground.”

Their efforts paid off.

Rhyner and his sons harvested 3,480 pounds of cotton to secure the first bale title.

“It just seemed like everything kind of lined up,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a little star alignment, too, and of course, the good Lord, He blessed us with this one.”

The first bale will be auctioned off in September. The proceeds benefit education initiatives in the Rio Grande Valley.