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South Plains cotton harvest slower this yearBy Jennifer M. Latzke
Never count the cotton bales before the bolls open. For Texas Panhandle cotton farmers, that adage has never been truer than this season. Steven Albracht, Hart, Texas, raises cotton, corn and wheat and usually at this time of the year he's juggling corn harvest, cotton stripping, and his children's ball games. But, several hail storms this past summer changed that plan. He started the year with 460 acres of cotton and will harvest about 187 acres. "We got hailed out in June and then we had a few more summer hail storms," Albracht said. Many of Albracht's neighbors turned to double cropping sorghum on their hailed out cotton acres, but he decided to take his crop insurance payments and rest the ground. "Inputs were too high at the time to plant another crop, so we just left those acres out for wheat, the next crop," he added. What cotton was left standing in his fields has been slow to develop. "Right now, we have about 5 percent open bolls, versus the 40 percent that's normal for this time of year in this area," Albracht said. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service, in its Oct. 20 Crop Progress Report, Albracht won't be alone in his slow harvest this year. Texas cotton producers reported an average of only 78 percent of bolls opened as of Oct. 19, versus 85 percent at that time last year. The same report showed that growers in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas are right on track, if not a little bit early, for their cotton crops. Oklahoma cotton is 96 percent opened, Missouri is 100 percent open, and Kansas is 85 percent opened. The same report showed that 34 percent of the Texas crop was fair, 31 percent good, and only 10 percent was rated as excellent. The majority of the Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas crops are also rated fair to good as of Oct. 19. NASS reports show that Texas cotton farmers planted around 4.9 million acres of Upland cotton in 2008, but may only harvest 3.35 million, compared to the 4.7 million acres harvested in 2007. Upland cotton yields are predicted to be lower, too, at around 759 pounds per acre, or 5.3 million bales, versus the 843 pounds per acre and 8.25 million bales in 2007. USDA-NASS also released its Cotton Ginnings report Oct. 24. According to the survey, as of Oct. 15, Texas gins have only seen 641,500 running bales, versus 844,200 this time last year. In 2005, at the height of cotton production in the state, a little more than 1.2 million bales had been ginned during the same period. "Normally, we'd be harvesting right now, along with corn," Albracht said. He and a neighbor share equipment and trade labor to bring in their fall crops. Despite the earlier setbacks from Mother Nature, Albracht isn't discouraged about this year's harvest, or on cotton in general. Cotton has a place in his production rotation because of the agronomic aspects of the crop. "Cotton, in our rotation, helps us give the ground a break," he said. "We'd like to grow soybeans, but there's not really a variety that will yield well in this area." To ensure he gives his cotton the best start possible in the windy and dry West Texas Plains, Albracht starts out by selecting cotton varieties that are suitable to his region. "We have all Bayer FiberMax varieties, because we like the yield and grading they offer," he said. "I plant BollgardII Roundup Ready and Bollgard Roundup Ready varieties. This year we planted some FM 9063, FM 9180 and FM 9058. The FM 9180 is new for us, and it looks pretty good." Albracht selects his cotton for boll set and how well it holds the lint as it opens up on the plant. "We also look at micronaire and grading, and the critical heat units it will need. Our season isn't long. We have a short window in the area." He plants his cotton using ridge tillage and some conventional tillage, on 30-inch rows, and at a higher seeding rate of 60,000 to 63,000. "I plant at a higher rate because of the wind storms we tend to get here," Albracht said. "I plant a lot, so I'll have some in the end." Albracht starts planting his cotton around the end of April. "The last three years, we've been planting corn and cotton at the same time," he said. "We try to start April 29, if we have the weather. It can make the yields then." From April to July, Albracht monitors the crop and once the plants start loading up bolls in July he'll apply Pix, a plant growth regulator. He's also tried applications of Headline, a fungicide. While he hasn't begun stripping cotton yet, he said the crop does look good as can be out in the field. "We'll run Prep when the time comes, and then harvest it all ourselves," Albracht said. On an average year, Albracht will harvest 1,700 to 2,100 pounds per acre from his center pivot irrigated cotton. "We have some furrow irrigation, but not a lot," he added. "We're running out of water in the area, and a lot of farmers like myself are planting cotton, wheat and sorghum because of it." Albracht said he likes to plant wheat in the dryland corners of his center pivot irrigation fields. As he looks to the future, Albracht sees the rising cost of production inputs as being the one factor that will affect cotton farmers such as himself. "I've been farming since 1987, so about 21 years, and I hope to survive these high input costs for at least a few more years." Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. None\0- Date: 11/7/08
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