High Plains cotton growers have faced a difficult year. Scattered weather events caused late plating, replanting and late emergence. But the forecast shows a strong finish.
A warm October leading into harvest will help the crop and growers are expecting decent yields.
“It has been a roller coaster,” Steve Verrett, president of Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. told the Amarillo Globe News. “But what I’m hearing from most folks is that we’re still in pretty good shape.”
Verrett said the crop may not be as big as predicted, but “it’s still going to be a very good crop.”
Cool temperatures and heavy cloud cover in late September delayed the maturity of late planted cotton.
Texas AgriLife Extension Service agronomist Wayne Keeling told the Amarillo Globe News the later planted cotton needed more sun to mature the fiber in those bolls.
“When you get cloudy days and cooler temperatures, you just slow that boll’s development,” Keeling said. “The fact that we’re getting so late in the season it’s hard to make that up.”
Barry Evans, a Swisher County cotton grower, said grades will not be as high as last year due to cooler than normal weather in August.
Seth Byrd, a cotton specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Lubbock, said cool weather at planting, followed by a hot period with bad wind, caused challenges for farmers as well.
Lack of rainfall in May during planting was followed by rain and sunlight in July. But too much rain in August caused issues for farmers.
“From the start of this season, from the time we planted, we’ve been battling just to stay on track,” Byrd said.
Some growers were forced to replant at different times due to wind and heavy rain.
The growing season essentially ended early in the northern Panhandle due to continued cool temperatures. But growers further east in lower elevation have reportedly had good weather.