PrintThe cotton industry in the western U.S. faces a wide range of issues affecting profitability. , with cotton prices and futures, and production information on planting, fertilizing, and harvesting your cotton crop.
According to the Pink Bollworm survey, Upland acreage could total just over 46,000 acres and Pima plantings are reported at just under 116,000 acres. Cotton growers are planting more Pima this year tied to a marked difference in price, according to Roger Isom, president of the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association.
Isom has watched cotton acreage decrease significantly over the past several years and hopes this year’s total reflects a “bottoming out.” The cotton leader holds out hope that water availability and market conditions will become favorable in the near future.
“Cotton is a great rotational crop,” Isom said. “If our acreage gets any lower, we’re going to have some problems with our infrastructure.”
Isom said several California gins have closed in the last few years due to a lack of cotton. It is not known at this point whether those gins will reopen.
Much of the state’s cotton continues is planted in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV). One-third of the total SJV cotton acreage this year (51,260 acres) and over 42 percent of its Pima crop (48,680 acres) is grown in Kings County.
