Oklahoma crops picture worsens

TULSA, Okla. (AP)--Drought conditions are expected to push Oklahoma's cotton harvest down nearly 50 percent from last year's record production, and the peanut and sorghum crops are also facing significant problems, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

Oklahoma may only harvest 190,000 bales of cotton this fall, and this month's forecast, released Sept. 12, is 25 percent lower than the USDA's first estimate four weeks ago.

August rains came too late for Oklahoma's cotton fields, which baked under severe drought and 100-degree temperatures.

"I think their down shift is going to be correct. I thought (the USDA) was overestimating it in the first place," said J.C. Banks, cotton specialist for Oklahoma State University's Cooperative Extension service.

Banks said irrigated cotton is faring better, but some farmers in drought-ravaged southwestern Oklahoma have given up and plowed their fields under. Some farmers gambled and planted cotton this spring to make up for stunted winter Wheat plants, only to see those plans thwarted by the drought.

Since most of Oklahoma's cotton is exported, this year's drop in production will mostly affect producers and not be felt by consumers, Banks said.

"We're such a small player in the world market, it's not going to do much," Banks said via cell phone. "The High Plains and West Texas is losing about 1 million acres (of cotton). Not even that is going to have a big blip on the market."

Prospects for Oklahoma's peanut crop also fell this month. The government predicts a harvest of 61.6 million pounds in 2006, a 41 percent decline from 2005 and potentially the smallest harvest in five decades.

Farmers have been unhappy with peanut prices and changes in subsidies, so they've been cutting the acres they plant and switching to other crops.

Only 22,000 acres of peanuts were planted in Oklahoma this year, the lowest amount since 1927.

The hot weather can also hurt peanut plants, which can wither in temperatures above 95 degrees, said Mike Kubicek, director of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission.

The outlook this month for Oklahoma's sorghum crop plunged 6 percent from the USDA's August estimates. The 2006 harvest should yield 9.2 million bushels, making this year's crop 26 percent smaller than last year's.

Date: 9/21/06

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