California Cotton Growers Facing A Potentially Tough Season

From Owen Taylor, AgFax Editorial Director: Our contacts in California have been telling us through the winter and into the spring that the state would have more cotton, something clearly reflected in surveys by both USDA and the National Cotton Council.

A cotton module beneath palm trees in the San Joaquin Valley. Photo © Debra L. Ferguson, Southern-Images.Com

As it's shaping up now, this could be a challenging season for cotton production in the state. The reason: too much rain. A succession of storms has moved through California this spring. Drier areas in the southern San Joaquin already have received more rain than they do in some years. In California's arid, irrigated production system, spring rain presents particular problems because it disrupts planting momentum and raises potential for seedling disease problems. It also fosters larger pest populations in wild areas, which later translate into heavy pest pressure in crops. That means more treatments and added costs.

Below you'll find comments made Friday by Tony Touma, a veteran private consultant and PCA (Professional Crop Adviser) who operates Bio Ag Consulting in Bakersfield in Kern County at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley:

“Cotton is coming up in most fields. How all this rain and crazy weather affects the crop, you can’t say for sure. But it does increase potential for disease. It’s still too wet (4/23) to drive in some places, and we have another storm in the forecast for Tuesday or Wednesday (4/27-28). I hate to say it, but we never make a good cotton crop in Kern County during a wet year. You can have stand counts. Insect pressure tends to be higher because the foothills get green and give lygus a place to build populations. When that vegetation dries up, lygus move into the valley and become a big problem in cotton.

“I’m told that some dealers have run out of certain Roundup Ready varieties, and people are looking for them where they can. That’s happening because growers are planting more cotton than expected. One dairyman I know who also grows cotton had disked a field for corn, then decided to plant cotton in it. That says a lot about how much more people are moving to cotton.

“About half of our cotton is planted now. With seed in short supply, I’m hoping we don’t get into any replant issues.”