By Jessica Domel
Field Editor
Rain. It’s a blessing for most Texans who now tire of ongoing drought-like conditions, but for Plains cotton growers like Ricky Yantis of Littlefield, that blessing could prove to be more of a curse if it lingers on too long.
We have a lot of acres that have had harvest aid chemicals put on it, Yantis said. They were getting ready to harvest.
But then a storm system moved through the area, putting a pause on harvesting activity, leaving farmers to worry about the fate of their crop.
If the rain falls very hard and fast, or if there’s any hail, that will string it out worse and even pull it out of the burr, Yantis said. As you get to that point, it will fall out or get to where if you hit it with a stripper, it flies everywhere.
Even if the cotton does stay in the burr, or boll, and is not strung out, rain on open bolls could still cause costly damage.
As the cotton burrs that are open become wet, they’ll start to deteriorate, Yantis said. With that deterioration comes discoloration. It will stain the cotton and hurt your grade.
Yantis planted about 4,200 acres of cotton this year. Like other farmers in the state, he’s worried about the economic impact a blow like this will have on his operation, the area and state.
There is a lot of concern about the economics of this crop, Yantis said. All commodity prices are low right now. Cotton is exceptionally low. Our input costs remain high.
Many Texas cotton farmers battled pesticide-resistant plants this year, which was also costly. A loss like one of these rains could bring on could further hurt farmers, gins and supporting businesses’ bottom lines.
Cotton farmers rely totally on the weather. The only difference between a bale to the acre cotton and two-and-a-half bale to the acre cotton or more is the weather, Yantis said. We can’t control the weather, and we’ve never been able to control the weather. We live with this every year.
The troublesome thing about this year is farmers aren’t used to receiving multiple inches of rain in October.
It could be devastating if it stays and becomes a hard rain, Yantis said. It could be a devastating blow to the farmer who loses a lot of cotton onto the ground.
If the rain the area receives over the next few days is light, and then the following weeks are clear and dry, the precipitation may not do much damage.
My fear right now is a heavy, hard rain or hail, Yantis said. Then my next concern is quality.
Near Littlefield, Yantis is expecting about two-bale-to-the-acre cotton. In other areas of the Plains, some farmers were expecting four- or five-bale cotton.
Most cotton is coming in with average to a little above average yields.
For the High Plains of Texas, this will be the biggest crop we’ve harvested since 2010, which was about five million bales Steve Verett, executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers Inc., said. This crop is estimated to be around four million bales. That’s barring any big weather event between now and the time we get it off the stalk.
The crop is an important one in Texas. It’s very much needed by the state’s infrastructure and farmers alike.
Cotton is the number one crop in Texas. Five to six million, sometimes as much as seven or eight million, bales of cotton per year are harvested in Texas.
It has a significant impact to the state economy, Verett said. The unique thing about cotton is it all has to be processed before it can be sold. The ginning industry is critical, as is warehousing.
Cotton produces two marketable products in Texas-lint and seed. Both play a large role in the Texas economy.
Both were impacted by rains earlier this year as cotton was planted weeks late. Now, both could be affected by rains now.
The arrival of rain is a double-edged sword for farmers. It’s not all bad. And it’s not all good.
There’s a lot of wheat out here that’s been planted that needs the rain, Yantis said. But right now, the majority of acres that is still in the field is cotton that needs to be harvested, some corn and some grain. You can’t harvest those if it’s raining either.
According to the last drought report from the Texas Water Development Board, 47 percent of Texas is experiencing drought or drought-like conditions.
Those conditions are expected to improve if,