The U.S. cotton acreage is expected to increase nearly 10 percent this spring, according to the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) 36th annual Early Season Planting Intentions survey.
The survey results showed nationwide growers are expected to plant 11 million acres of cotton in 2017, according to Delta Farm Press.
The survey was conducted between mid-December and mid-January when cotton futures were trading for about 70 cents a pound, up from 64 cents the year before, according to Jody Campiche, NCC’s vice president for Economics and Policy Analysis.
Campiche said actual plantings this spring could be even higher given some strength in the cotton market.
“History has shown U.S. farmers respond to relative prices when making planting decisions,” he said.
A drop in competing crop prices may also be a factor influencing farmers to plant more cotton.
“Looking at competing crops, corn prices were lower than year-ago levels while soybean prices were about 12 percent higher,” Campiche said. “The price ratio of cotton to corn is more favorable than in 2016.”
In 2016, cotton farmers planted 10.07 million acres and harvested 9.5 million acres, producing a crop of 16.96 million bales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Planted acreage is one of the factors that will determine supplies of cotton and cottonseed in 2017, Campiche noted.
As land shifts away from corn and wheat, Texas acreage is expected to increase by 9.5 percent.
Lack of other profitable crop options, including milo, are influencing farmers to grow more cotton.
“We would like to plant some milo, but we can’t make any money with it,” Lynn County farmer Travis Mires told Delta Farm Press.
Recent increases in price and anticipated ongoing reduction of China’s cotton stocks offer opportunities for optimism in 2017, according to Campiche.
China began auctioning off its reserve stocks in 2016 and will resume doing so in March, according to Agri-Pulse.
“We are entering 2017 with a little more optimism,” Cotton Incorporated President and CEO Berrye Worsham said.
House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway assured cotton industry representatives that he will make sure the next farm bill will include new price supports for either cotton fiber or cottonseed.
“We’ve got to get cotton back under Title I. Whether it’s lint or seed, I’m going to get cotton back under Title I,” Conaway said.
Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack denied a request a year ago by the industry to allow cottonseed to qualify for the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) under the reference price for “other oilseeds.”
Conaway is likely to renew his request with President Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue.