In the wake of another less-than-ideal harvest, cotton producers across the U.S. are gearing up for the upcoming season, repeating the strategy of scaling back on planted acreage for the second consecutive year.
On the High Plains, the primary culprit was the challenging mix of unfavorable prices with a low return on investment, coupled with adverse weather — including prolonged waves of triple-digit temperatures and drought hindering summer growth, followed by high winds and a destructive hailstorm in the fall that damaged many mature plants ready for harvest.
Looking back to the 2022-23 season, experts had observed parallel trends then as the nation faced its lowest harvest in nearly 40 years.
This was despite Texas — by far, the leading cotton state by production — entering the growing season with its largest planted area since 1954, approximately 7.85 million acres. Foreshadowing the same challenges faced this year, the changes were driven largely in part by volatile weather: Prolonged La Niña conditions triggered mega-droughts, scorching fields in the Southwest; Hurricane Ian pressured coastal farmers to harvest early; and yearlong wildfires engulfed cotton farms in California.
Owing to these challenges, the state entered the current season (2023-24) with a nearly 29 percent decrease in planted acreage, totaling about 5.57 million acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service database. As a result, the agency has forecast a harvested area of approximately 3.75 million acres, marking one of the lowest harvest totals for the state over a 10-year duration, second only to last year.
Now, both local and national experts expect to see a similar planted acreage this year.
"I don't see Texas being too far off from where we were at this time last year," said Kody Bessent, the Chief Executive Officer for Plains Cotton Growers, estimating that the planted acreage will land around 5.5 million to 5.8 million acres in the state and approximately 6 million acres in the Southwest region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
"(But I'm) just referencing upland cotton here. Pima is hard to tell, because we had 28,000 acres certified this last year," he added.
Nationally, Cotton Growers magazine has projected a planted acreage of around 10.19 million acres, including both upland and Pima cotton, slightly down by about 42,000 acres from last year’s planted acreage. The National Cotton Council will release its national planting intentions survey results during the annual meeting on Feb. 18.