Tag Archives: Georgia cotton

Cotton Producers are Still Hopeful for Strong Yields

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Tifton, GA |

This growing season has certainly been a challenging one for cotton growers here in Georgia, as producers continue to get hit with one challenge after another, time and time again. However, according to Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Specialist, despite those difficulties, the crop still is turning out to be a great one.

“Up until now, the crop looks really good. It seems like we’ve been getting what we need in most places. That June spell might hit a little harder than other some of our earlier planted dry land, really in the middle part of the state probably suffered a little bit more from that dry June than other places, but the crop, I think is looking really good,” says Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Specialist.

Of course, a big concern is the effect of Hurricane Debby, however, according to Hand, though there were some direct losses, the crop faired the storm well as the bolls on the plants hadn’t opened just yet. However, his biggest concern is the fact that some producers are not able to get equipment back into their fields, which will hinder their ability to manage and possibly harvest their crop.

“I think there’s definitely some direct losses, but the thing that concerns me a little bit more are the indirect losses from delays being able to get in the field from, from dirt roads being washed out and stuff like that. We’re definitely going to be delayed getting back in the field. Also, it could take until harvest. The good news is that it wasn’t quite as bad as most people thought, but the bad news is we’re still in August and we got us a long way to go,” says Hand.

Another concern growers are dealing with are pests, specifically boll feeding ones such as stink bugs, that can do a lot of damage this time of year when the plant is most susceptible.

“Stinkbugs are the primary boll feeding bug, but we also need to be aware that there are other bug species that can do similar injury. One that’s kind of we’re seeing a little more frequently for this late in the season is tarnished plant bug and clouded plant bug, but they’ll also feed on these developing bolls. We have a dynamic threshold that when we’re in that third, fourth and fifth week of bloom and a lot of cotton is in that time frame where it’s most susceptible or most sensitive to yield loss from these boll feeding bugs,” says Phillip Roberts, Extension Entomologist.

Roberts says one other pest to be concerned about is the silver leaf white fly, as he says they do well in drought conditions growers here in Georgia saw earlier this summer and need to be dealt with in a timely manner.

“June was a very dry month, and silver leaf white fly really does well during dry conditions. Thankfully, we started receiving rainfall in July, but white fly numbers did kind of get a foot in the door. We do want to remind growers, when you see a few white flies in the field, they should influence every decision you make,” says Roberts.

By: John Holcomb

Significant Rainfall is Impacting Cotton Fields

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Tifton, GA |

This time of year, typically you can find cotton producers in their fields wrapping up the planting of their crop. However, this year, things have looked a little different, as unprecedented rainfall has delayed producers from getting their 2024 crop in the ground.

“We’ve kind of had wet Mays the last two years, which is a little abnormal for us. We’re used to May being one of our drier months and not being able to do a lot of dryland planting and stuff like that, but we’ve had these fronts come through consistently that are keeping us out of the field. So, we’re at the RDC pivot today; a lot of people know where that is here in Tifton, but we were able to get in here the first week of May and plant this, but if we had not done that, then we probably wouldn’t have been able to plant it until now,” says Extension Cotton Agronomist, Camp Hand.

As Hand stated, since that first week of May, producers have not been able to get into their fields to finish planting, as the amount of rain they’ve gotten is unlike anything they’ve seen, which, according to producer, Brian Ponder, just creates more challenges to deal with throughout the season.

“Typically, in our area after about the 25th of May our yields start to decline. So, normally we would like to be through around the 20th through the 25th, but in years past at that point that’s when we see a decline in yields. Now, it’s not every year because every year’s different, and we know the Lord can work things out. We may end up making the best crop we’ve ever made, but typically planting as late as we are, we’re kind of challenged to get the yields that we need,” says Brian Ponder, Owner of Pondagold Farms in Tifton.

According to Hand however, he believes the state as a whole is in a decent spot and says regardless of whether or not the crop is planted on time, a good crop is still possible.

“We’re about where we need to be, but, with that being said, we do have an insurance deadline coming up. Next week is the first week of June, so a lot of folks are worried about getting a crop in. The one thing I’ll say is we can still make really good cotton that’s planted in June. We can get it off to a good start, but we just got to be a little more careful with making sure we don’t delay that crop any and finding any issues associated it with that crop and fixing those,” says Hand.

For Ponder and others like however, the real concern is with the financial issues producers are facing, as he says inputs and other costs have increased, but the price of cotton isn’t much more today than it was four decades ago, which makes it difficult to just breakeven.

“Today we can sell cotton for seventy-six cents a pound. Forty years ago, we were probably seventy-three. We’re basically selling the crop for the same price as we did four decades ago. In that time when I started growing cotton, I was paying twenty-five dollars a bag for cotton seed, now I’m paying 650 dollars. A cotton picker that I started out with, we bought a used cotton picker in 1987, I paid twenty-five thousand dollars for it, and now a new picker today is a million dollars. So that’s the challenges that we’re facing,” says Ponder.

By: John Holcomb

Annual Meeting Prepares Growers for Upcoming Planting Season

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Tifton, GA |

Believe it or not, we are just a few months away from seed going into the ground for cotton growers around state. And with that in mind, many decided to attend to Georgia Cotton Commission Annual Meeting, to prepare themselves for the coming season.

“Whether it’s insects, diseases, varieties, you name it, there are people here, to visit with and learn from and learn from each other. These meetings like this, extension specialists like myself, this is where we really learn what the needs are across our great state,” says Phillip Roberts, Extension Entomologist with UGA.

While some pests like aphid and thrips are a yearly nuisance to these growers, there are always new ones to be on the lookout for when scouting your fields.

“One of the main topics we’re hitting at our local production meetings is tarnished plant bug. That’s a pest that’s really increased just in recent years. So, it’s still new to some of our growers. So, we need to make sure growers understand that they are potential pest and we just need to scout for them and if we have them, it needs to be addressed,” says Roberts.

Protecting the crop against diseases such as foliar leaf spot and boll rot are equally as important to maintaining yields. And the easiest way to do that is have a proactive approach.

“In my world of plant pathology and nematology, perhaps, the most important thing is to recognize that some of the most important things a grower can do happens before they can close the furrow, whether it’s fighting nematodes or fighting bacterial blight or fighting fusarium wilt or fighting seedling disease; they have to do it before the furrow’s closed. Your management options are very limited once you close the furrow,” says Bob Kemerait, Plant Pathologist with UGA.

This message is more important than ever this year with a lower commodity price being projected to go along with record high input costs.

“Margins are going to be tight and I think at the end of the day, it’s all about making every input pay. Entomology; it’s a little easier than some other things. We can scout and if we exceed threshold, yes, it is a good investment to protect that cotton from insects, but I think at the end of the day, it’s trying to reduce that cost of production per pound of lint. We can reduce input costs, but we have to maintain yields,” says Roberts.

And that’s the goal for everyone on the UGA Cotton Team, as they strive to meet all current and future challenges.

“We here, in University of Georgia extension, we pride ourselves on coming up with research based, nonbiased information. Cotton growers in Georgia are a robust group. They’ve been through storms before. Admittedly, this storm is kind of tough recognizing that cotton prices may not be where they want them to be, but they’re resilient and they recognize that a lot of the profit comes from investing in research and adopting research to improve production through profitability,” says Kemerait.

By: Damon Jones

Annual Cotton Commission Meeting Updates Producers on Economic Outlook

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Tifton, GA

At the University of Georgia’s Tifton Conference Center, cotton producers, industry professionals, and experts recently gathered for their annual meeting – a time for producers to fellowship, get updates on the industry, and hear from experts before the 2023 season gets underway.

“It’s just an event to try and gather as many cotton producers from across the state as humanly possible in one place at one time to discuss what’s going on in the cotton industry for 2023 and beyond, as well as a time together to fellowship, meet with our extension specialists and extension agents to learn about new farming techniques and practices and technologies, as we make plans for 2023,” says Taylor Sills, Executive Director of the Georgia Cotton Commission. “We’re good at growing cotton here in Georgia, so they’re looking to find ways to pinch a penny without cutting a corner to continue to produce that sustainable, high quality crop as we move into the next year and beyond.”

Perhaps the most anticipated part of the meeting each year are the cotton production workshops where growers can hear from experts like Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Specialist with UGA, who spoke to producers about the upcoming year. Hand says growers need to be making the most of every dollar as input costs are still high and the price of cotton is down at least forty cents from where it was last year.

“Even though inputs were high, cotton prices were high,” says Hand. “Almost a year ago, the contract price of cotton was a dollar and thirty cents, which is really good. I mean it’s been a long time since it was over a dollar, but now we’re looking down the barrel of a situation where the contract price for December is about eighty-five, ninety cents maybe and input prices hadn’t gone down that much, and so margins are going to be a little thinner for our guys.”

According to Amanda Smith, a Senior Public Service Associate with UGA, one big concern for producers this year is the drastic increase in interest rates – an issue that Smith says could double interest expenses for producers.

“Last year, interest rates may have been around four, four and a half percent for some producers and this year, it may be between seven and nine percent, and so, their interest expense has increased significantly from last year, and so maybe they had interest expense of fifty thousand dollars on an operating note last year, this year, it could potentially be one hundred thousand dollars and that is dramatic thinking that they haven’t increased their operation size or their not farming more acres; it’s the same size of acres that they’re farming but a much bigger expense because of interest alone,” says Smith.

It’s because of that reason, Smith says growers, more importantly than ever before, need to know their cost of production for the year so they can make decisions that will best keep them financially sound.

“More important than ever is to know cost of production, and when producers know their cost of production, then they can have an idea of what their break-even price is, and so, if they know their break-even price and they can potentially market it above that break-even price, they know they’re covering their costs and gonna make some positive margin,” says Smith.

By: John Holcomb