Tag Archives: Georgia cotton commission

Georgia Cotton Growers Face Tough Times: Low Prices, High Costs & Hope for 2025

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Tifton, GA |

Recently in Tifton, cotton growers here in Georgia gathered for their annual meeting for a time of fellowship and education, which of course couldn’t come at a better time as growers saw one of the toughest years they’ve ever seen in 2024.

“This is really an opportunity for the industry as a whole, beyond the producer level, even to come together to really, come together and fellowship or, as it turns out, in 2025, maybe commiserate, with this really bad confluence of situations that we have here. Economic, weather, policy, all that have kind of come together and really detrimental to our cotton industry here in Georgia. But also to learn about solutions, how we’re going to improve the situation, what the industry is doing to to move us forward, how we’re going to meet our consumers, how our mills and manufacturer customers, and how we’re going to meet them where they are to move, to move cotton production forward in Georgia in 2025 and beyond,” says Taylor Sills, Executive Director of the Georgia Cotton Commission.

Most of the situation can be attributed to low commodity prices that aren’t covering the costs of their inputs, and unfortunately, according to Extension cotton agronomist, Camp Hand, the situation for 2025 isn’t looking much better.

“It’s the price of cotton and the cost of the inputs. I’d say it cost ninety cents per pound of  cotton to grow the crop, but then you are selling it for right now, today, a December 2025 contract is going for sixty-eight, sixty-nine cents. So you’re twenty cent below the cost of production. That’s serious, and so it’s tough. We’ve been put in some tough situations because the international market is just a different place than it was a few years ago,” says Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Agronomist.

However, according to Hand, even though growers are in a tough spot, the only thing that would make it worse is to not try to grow a good crop, which is why he and other extension experts are there to give growers the tools they need to do so.

“At the end of the day, these growers in Georgia, whether they want to be or not or are married to it. What we want guys to know is that if you put a crop in the ground, you gotta make it, and so we’re trying to give them the tools that they need to make the most out of a bad situation,” says Hand.

Despite the tough economic situation, there is some good news for growers heading into the 2025 season, as extension plant pathologist, Bob Kemerait says that disease pressure growers saw in 2024 shouldn’t be a problem this season, thanks to good, actual winter weather the state has seen.

“Going into 2025, I’m really excited. This cold weather, this snow we’ve had, freezing temperatures; I call it a reset button because what happens with the freezing temperatures is we kill off some of our volunteer cotton, which can bring forward, be a bridge. Also, those cold soil temperatures are going to start to send those nematodes to bed for a while; slow them down, maybe kill some of them, but certainly break their life cycle. So what we’ve had with this cold weather is we are now completely in 2025 season and not bringing 2024 along with us,” says Bob Kemerait, Extension Plant Pathologist.

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