AgFax Cotton - 2018 Cotton Harvest Still Underway in Northwest Louisiana
By AgFax.com, AgFax Media LLC
OVERVIEW
Cotton planting gained momentum this week with nearly ideal conditions across a wide area...up to a point. Rain is in the forecast late in the week and into the weekend. But in parts of the upper Delta, at least some rain fell on Wednesday.
More delays are expected if the forecast plays through. This already has been an excessively wet year through much of our coverage area and growers have been scrambling to catch up.
Unpicked cotton remains in the field in parts of northwest Louisiana.
LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS
Steve Schutz, Ind. Consultant, Coushatta, Louisiana:
"A few people in the area are still picking cotton (as of 4/29). None of my clients are still in that situation. My last one finished picking on April 1, and that field averaged 850 lbs/acre. I have no idea about its quality and there's no telling what it would have picked if the farmer could have gotten in the field on time.
"Since September, rain has been with us every week. One estimate is that 4,000 acres of cotton are still in the field, and some of that will still be picked. But there also were 10,000 to 12,000 acres of beans that were never harvested.
"And now, planting has been held up again by rain. Some growers did manage to plant all the corn they wanted and 70% of the stands are fair to good. But a whole lot needed to be replanted and a significant part of that will be abandoned and planted in beans.
"Some of our cotton has been planted, too, and it's just cracking the ground. We're not quite in a panic mode yet. Up until a May 10 planting date, there's no potential yield loss. But with every delay now, we're losing flexibility with cotton and nobody wants to fool with beans.
"We were going to have more cotton, anyway, and those acres were coming out of corn and soybeans. We're still seeing a portion of our acreage moving away from corn simply due to wild hog damage. Some producers who regularly grew 1,000 acres of corn every year are now down to 300, all due to hogs.
"Where I have growers in Arkansas, they couldn't plant corn and will end up planting cotton on those acres. It's a tight situation for them because the closest gins aren't taking on more growers. After that, the closest gin is 70 miles away."
Dan Fromme, Louisiana Extension Cotton And Corn Specialist:
"Planting definitely kicked off this week and people are moving fast. Prior to this week, not much happened. In places, growers are finishing corn.
"We're due to get rain, which probably will shut things down for a while. But on the positive side, temperatures are fantastic. Overall, we'll have a lot more corn and a lot fewer beans this year.
"Cotton acres will be up, especially in the northern part of the state. I'm sensing plenty of optimism among farmers. With corn, a significant amount was planted in the last 2 weeks of March and the first week of April before rain hit again. Most of our corn is at least in the ground now.
"Where people are still planting corn, it's in north Louisiana and these probably are cases where farmers have contracts. It was seriously wet in Louisiana from October to mid-March but it also was unreal how many acres of corn people planted in 14 to 17 days."
Ashley Peters, Peters Crop Consulting, Crowville, Louisiana:
"We're planting everything everywhere, it seems. I probably have some guys who haven't begun planting cotton yet and others who've just started. On the other hand, some are pretty far along. One grower said today (5/1) that he's 75% done.
"So, this planting season will be significantly staggered out. Some growers are still trying to wrap up fertilizer and herbicide applications in corn, plant soybeans and plant rice. Cotton will be the last thing for them.
"Cotton acres have exploded around here. Over the last few years, any number of growers were reluctant to get back into the crop but they're into it now. One guy said a few years ago that he'd retire before he ever grew cotton again. This year, he'll have cotton.
"Overall, my cotton acres are up. Ginning capacity will be stretched thin. Gins are telling some growers that if they plant more than they're allotted, they won't be able to gin it. Even with that, people are telling me every day that they will either have more cotton this year or that they'll plant it for the first time in several years.
"Our bean acres are drastically down with growers moving that ground to cotton or rice. At least right now, I don't think we'll see them swap back to beans.
"You might say that 'soybeans' is a four-letter word here. If growers have the infrastructure to grow cotton or rice, that's the direction they're heading."