Agricultural News
Southern Plains Producing Best Yields in Five Years, Price and Policy Presents Looming Challenges
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 17:45:35 CST
Cotton growers across southwest Oklahoma and the High Plains of Texas are harvesting their best cotton crop since 2010. After dealing with four consecutive years of drought, Plains Cotton Growers Executive Vice President Steve Verett said having a larger yielding crop this year was desperately needed.
"The drought since 2011 has really taken a toll on much of our infrastructure, certainly our ginning infrastructure," Verett said. "We were at the point that we could lose some of it, if we didn't have this volume of cotton."
Some farmers are reporting good quality and above average yields in Oklahoma and in the High Plains of Texas. This year, the bigger challenge has been the price farmers get paid for their crop. Verett said that's going to make it a very tight year to break-even on growing cotton. Farmers have seen added expenses in trying to control pigweed. He said that's added costs of at least $30 an acre.
Cotton prices have held up better this year relative to prices for other crops like corn, soybeans or wheat. For prices to trend higher, Verett said the crop needs global cotton demand to return. He said large cotton stocks sitting in China are holding a cast over the market, but ultimately worldwide cotton demand is needed to push cotton prices higher.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Verett at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting in Kansas City, Missouri last week. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to the interview.
Farmers also don't have a lot of protection from lower prices, as cotton was treated differently in the 2014 Farm Bill. Verett said cotton was offered the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) and cotton was not eligible for safety net programs through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This includes the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. Verett said so cotton does not have the same price protection options of other crops.
The cotton industry is working with U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack to have cotton seed be considered an oil seed crop. Verett said they are gaining support for the effort from agricultural banks that finance cotton operations to sign onto a letter about the state of the cotton industry right now.
Cotton has also been working with other commodities over threats to crop insurance. Recently, all of agriculture came together over the proposed Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015. Verett said agriculture reacted by contacting congressional representatives and Congress heard from rural America. He said agriculture got the best assurance possible that could be given by House Ag Chairman Michael Conaway and Ranking Member Collin Peterson that the cuts will be removed. He said that shows what agriculture can still do today and its important lesson in going forward.
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