Cotton harvest is underway in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and is rivaling last year’s yields.
Only 60,000 acres of cotton was harvested in the RGV last year due to drought, compared to the 250,000 acres grown in a good year, reported KRGV.
Dr. Webb Wallace, with the Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, said, “Agriculture, as you know, is one of the mainstays of the Valley’s economy,” and the “gin saw little cotton (last year).”
More rainfall and irrigated water has helped the cotton crop this year, allowing a harvest of 146,000 bales.
Texas grows 50 percent of the nation’s cotton, with approximately 4 percent of that grown in the RGV.