Louisiana Cotton Crop is Looking Rather Good Right Now

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

LSU Extension Service Cotton Specialist Dr. Dan Fromme at the Dean Lee Research Station says he’s cautiously optimistic Louisiana producers should have a fairly decent crop this year if the rainy weather and flooding conditions will just hold off.

“Early on, it looked like we were only going to make 700 to 800 pounds per acre but not we have some growers who are optimistic and believe they’ll get to around 900 to 1000 pounds per acre,” said Fromme. “And some other fields may even push the envelope and we may wind up with the state average better than that.”

Fromme also reports the numbers have slowed down on plant bugs and boll worms which is always good news for cotton producers.

“We’ll be quickly approaching harvest around the end of August and some of the early planted fields will start defoliation,” according to Fromme.

The final acreage numbers have been reported and it looks like right now Louisiana cotton farmers planted an estimated 215,000 acres this season.  Earlier in the season, Fromme said those planted acres estimates only ranged around 180,000 acres.