With More Cotton, Will Used Picker Prices Increase?

We keep hearing - as everyone else does - about more farmers returning to cotton this year after a prolonged flirtation with corn.

The question for many is: "How am I going to harvest it?"

In many instances - who knows how many? - farmers got out of cotton in a serious way, selling pickers, module builders and boll buggies.

Howard "The Dirt Doctor" Small, a crop consultant in southeast Georgia, told us last week that at least two growers in his area are now looking for used pickers after dumping their cotton equipment before the 2009 season. They replaced the pickers wiht combines to bring in the corn.

"At least cotton pickers are cheap now," Howard said.

Dale Deshane, who operates a consulting business in the southern San Joaquin Valley, said last week that a couple of growers would be back in cotton this year, having sold off their cotton pickers and related equipment before making a commitment to cotton.

"They probably won't buy equipment at this point," Deshane said, "and will turn over harvest to custom pickers."

Will all this mean a strengthening in used cotton picker prices?

Fewer pickers may be available than you might expect, especially the clean, how-hour selections. One equipment salesman in the Delta told me in late 2008 that out-of-state buyers were actively trolling for specific models with no more than a certain number of hours on them. The buyers were paying a set price for a qualifying picker, take it or leave it. It was suspected that they were building an inventory of pickers to export to other countries.

So, in theory, fewer pickers are now available because they're picking cotton in a whole other country. Again, nobody can say how many might have been funneled overseas. Whatever pickers left were likely better machines.

- Owen Taylor