Agricultural News
Oklahoma's 2013 Cotton Crop 'Under Duress'
Fri, 05 Jul 2013 15:28:45 CDT
Writing in the latest Cotton Comments Newsletter, Randy Boman and Jerry Goodson say this year's Oklahoma cotton crop is on the verge of hitting the skids once again.
The June 2013 USDA-NASS report indicated that Oklahoma cotton acreage is about 150,000 acres, which is down over 50% compared to 2012's plantings. In 2012, 330,000 acres were planted, which was down about 20% from 2011's 415,000 planted acres. The drought and crop price competition situation have resulted in a serious financial impact to the Oklahoma cotton industry. Across the U.S. Cotton Belt, 2013 acreage is down significantly. The Southeast's acreage dropped 8%, the Mid-South dropped 36%, and in the Southwestern states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas), cotton acreage has dropped about 15%.
This year's crop continues to make progress in areas where adequate moisture has been available. Continuing D3 and D4 category drought has resulted in difficult production issues for growers in the far southwestern corner of the state. The status of Lake Lugert (15% of capacity) is very concerning in southwestern Oklahoma. Due to persistent drought the watershed has provided no inflow, and no irrigation water will be provided to producers in 2013. According to the Mesonet, Altus received 1.35 inches of rainfall in June with the largest single event resulting in 0.55 inches of precipitation. The Tipton area received somewhat higher precipitation at 2.01 inches in June, with the largest event on June 17 producing 0.71 inches. The Hollis area received 2.59 inches in June, with two events resulting in 0.78 inches (on June 8th) and 0.71 inches (on June 17th). The Erick Mesonet Station reported a total of 2.42 inches of June precipitation, with 1.71 inches obtained on June 17th. The Fort Cobb Mesonet Station reported a June total of 4.69 inches, with 2.28 inches obtained on June 17th. Because of these timely rainfall events, considerable cotton acreage was able to get established, however, with the high temperatures and winds during the last 10 days of June, much of the emerged cotton is under duress at this time. The good news is that thus far in July, due to a cold front, high and low temperatures have been below normal.
Most producers have initiated irrigation where groundwater is available. For those who have not initiated irrigation, it is now time to start. The dryland crop will need some rainfall soon in order to stay on track. The no-till cotton in many areas should hold up longer than conventional till because of better initial profile moisture. The later planted dryland in some areas may have a chance if subsoil moisture is present to carry the crop until a rainfall event occurs. This must come soon. What this means for crop watchers is that the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District is in dire straits, a large percentage of irrigated cotton in other areas is off to a somewhat late start, and most dryland has emerged. As we unfortunately discovered during the Great Drought of 2011, a substantial portion of our groundwater-based irrigation is only supplemental to rainfall.
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