The weather is cooperating with some areas more than others. East Louisiana and Arkansas are experiencing perfect harvest weather, but it’s been raining in south Mississippi for four days with another week of rain in the forecast.

Early planted cotton is ready for defoliation in most areas and has started in Arkansas. As soon as rain lets up, south Mississippi will be defoliating, harvesting soybeans and treating late leaf spot in peanuts.

Yields for all crops look good, but Hurricane Ida has impacted prices and timeliness. Talk of cover crops and wheat planting is ramping up.

The U.S. cotton industry loses from $600 million to $750 million per year to contamination that creates production and quality issues for mills.

“That’s a significant loss,” says USDA ARS Engineer John Wanjura, at the USDA ARS Gin Lab in Lubbock, Texas.

Contamination, mostly plastic, results in a loss in premiums U.S. cotton merchants once enjoyed because of its reputation as a cleaner, higher-quality fiber compared to cotton from competing trade areas with similar quality, Wanjura says.

World cotton demand continues to recover. In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected world consumption of 123.3 million bales, which is 4.3 million bales more than the 2020-21 marketing year.

If realized, this would be the highest level since the 2007 marketing year and the third highest level on record.

Cotton defoliation is starting in Louisiana, Arkansas and other areas. Although too soon to know for sure, many are optimistic about yields compared with the projected yields in July. Hopes of dry weather for the remainder of the season are high, and September is off to a great start.

Rice, corn, soybean and grain sorghum harvest continues. Peanuts are drawing to a close with the last watering for Arkansas soon.

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol will present six live enrollment webinars focusing on how the program helps U.S. growers meet the changing demands from their end customer while also better documenting and verifying the sustainability practices and advances already incorporated into their farms.

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol will present six, live enrollment webinars focusing on how the program helps U.S. growers meet the changing demands from their end customer while also better documenting and verifying the sustainability practices and advances already incorporated into their farms.

Launched in 2020, the Trust Protocol is a farm level, science-based program that sets a new standard for more sustainably grown cotton. It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production and drives continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics– land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency.

Most of the cotton is past the point of scouting for insects, a welcomed time by growers and consultants. Most expect a large harvest in October

Harvesttime is upon us for corn, grain sorghum and soybeans. Growers are pleased with yields so far. Hurricane Ida caused a scare in Louisiana, which encouraged harvest, but the damages were isolated to southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

Darrell and Donnie VandeVen believe they have found a better way to grow cotton.

The brothers run a 6,000-acre row crop operation in northeastern Louisiana. In recent years they say they were just breaking even on their cotton crop, but they weren’t ready to give up on it.

A lot of cotton acres are just about to the point of letting go for the season, but late season pests are presenting growers with difficult management decisions. Pests vary across the Midsouth, but many areas are still fighting spotty plant bugs and a second wave of bollworms. Though population levels, for the most part, are nothing to write home about, the timing presents a difficult choice.

Saltmarsh caterpillars are being reported in extreme numbers in soybeans, and treatments are going out in Arkansas and Mississippi. Although not seen in such high numbers very often, they are causing foliage loss in some areas.

Corn harvest is underway in much of the Midsouth, and yields are excellent. There is light at the end of a very long tunnel this year.

Potassium (K) is the second most critical nutrient after nitrogen (N) for cotton production. Potassium deficiency can cause significant lint yield reduction with reduced fiber quality. Cotton experiences K deficiency for several reasons.

One of the main reasons is cotton grown in soils with low soil-test K level and received no potassium fertilizer. Also, any biotic or abiotic stresses during the growing season such as insect damage, diseases, nematode, compaction, drought etc. that suppress cotton root growth result in reduced K uptake and increased deficiency.

The sky isn’t falling when it comes to cotton leafroll dwarf virus.

That’s the message Auburn Extension Cotton Agronomist Steve Brown made clear in a presentation to the mid-year board meeting of Southern Cotton Growers at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Fla. July 22