By Julie Tomascik
Editor
As Hurricane Harvey continues to churn in the southern Gulf of Mexico, many Texas farmers are rushing to harvest cotton and prepare for a potentially devastating weather weekend.
Grain and cotton harvest in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Texas Coastal Bend is about finished for the year. Cotton farmers on the upper Texas coast, however, are either in full harvest mode or just beginning.
“Most of the crops other than cotton have been harvested,” Bob Reed, a rice and cotton farmer in Matagorda County, told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “But a lot of cotton is still in the field, maybe as much as 50 percent in the fields around here.”
The impending weather has area farmers working long hours, attempting to complete as much of their harvest as they can.
“Everyone is scrambling around here, working longer than normal to get the crop out,” Reed, who is also a TFB state director, said. “It’s an excellent crop in the field, but it doesn’t need any rain on it prior to harvest, and it certainly doesn’t need a hurricane. Everyone is doing all they can, and that includes working well into the night.”
Rainfall estimates from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center show rainfall in excess of 15 inches for many areas.
For cotton that has been harvested, there is some hope. But the modules and bales could be left standing in water if the predicted rainfall comes to fruition. Reed noted that farmers intentionally place the modules and bales on high ground, but flooding could still occur.
“Some of these coastal counties where it’s so flat, the water just backs up. So there will likely be flooding,” Reed said.
That could lead to deterioration in the bales and modules.
For harvest-ready cotton that’s left in the field, extended periods of moisture will affect the quality grade.
If the rainfall is too heavy, the weight of the moisture on the cotton could cause it to string out, which could lead to lost yields for farmers.
That’s tough news to hear when dryland cotton yields in the area point to an above-average crop.
“I’ve heard the lower end is 2.5 bales of cotton per acre, which is an excellent crop. There could be some with less, but also going up as high as over four bales an acre,” Reed said. “It’s an exceptional year yield-wise.”
Hurricane Harvey is forecast to become a Category 3 storm and the first hurricane to hit Texas since Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster for 30 Texas counties in anticipation of Tropical Storm Harvey making landfall. The preemptive state of disaster declaration includes the following counties: Aransas, Austin, Bee, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, Brazoria, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Harris, Jackson, Jefferson, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Lavaca, Liberty, Live Oak, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Waller, Wharton and Wilson.