Despite contests, no first bale yet in NE Louisiana

Ralph Bagwell, Louisiana Extension Entomologist, said today that this is the earliest start to a harvest that he's seen in the years he's been in the state. A significant amount of the crop will be defoliated this month and, in fact, a good deal of applications were already made before the middle of August.

It's interesting, though, that nothing appears to have been picked or ginned yet, said Bagwell. You can always tell in northeast Louisiana that at least a little ginning has started becausecommunity leaders in many parishes still make a big deal about the first bale. Farmers push for the distrinction of having the first bale, as well. In some places, it's auctioned off and goes on display in the business -- typically a bank or the office of a cotton buyer -- who makes the high bid.

"Even though this cotton is early and so much of it is being defoliated, I don’t know of any that’s been picked," said Bagwell, who grew up a part of west Texas where the ginning of the first bale also was a big event. "By now, I would have thought at least one announcement would have been made about a parish's first bale."