Phil Hickman
Ginner, Tornillo, Texas
Our reservoirs are empty, and we don’t have any expectations for rain anytime soon. We rely on our winter snowpack to help with our water situation. Even though the water shortage is very real, our farmers are still committed to cotton in 2012. I think we’ll be very conservative in all of our decisions on capital investments at the gin. We’ll also wait and see if acreage increases before we do any expanding at the gin. As for farmers, they’ll wait until February to make most of their decisions.
Bowen Flowers
Producer, Coahoma County, Miss.
I think the Farm Bill is the No. 1 thing on the radar screen for me right now. Different regional groups and the National Cotton Council have worked very hard on this in Washington. Even though the Super Committee didn’t accomplish its goal, I was encouraged at how the House and Senate Ag Committees came together to offer a proposal. That is a positive sign as the debate starts again.
Ron Rayner
Producer, Goodyear, Ariz.
There are a lot of issues out there for 2012, but I’d like to see the Farm Bill completed. We are hopeful that it will be something that we can live with. We aren’t expecting to keep everything we’ve had in the past, but agriculture does want to make a contribution to curing the nation’s debt crisis. But, having said that, producers do need a safety net for the future. I especially want that for our young farmers who are just getting started in the business. I share the feeling that a lot of farmers have that it was a good sign how all of the commodity groups came together for the Super Committee. I saw some real bipartisanship.
Ross Rutherford
Lummus Corp., Lubbock, Texas
Obviously, the specific needs for the Texas region are off-season rains to bring our water levels up. We’ve gotten a little bit of snow in recent weeks, but it’s that dry West Texas snow that doesn’t really create much moisture. It won’t even make a snowball because it’s so dry. We need some good slow one-inch rains. As for our business, we’ve already gotten some good orders booked for the export market in Australia and Brazil. We’re also getting good feedback on the domestic side because the customer knows what direction the industry is going. That is very encouraging.
Kevin Brinkley
The Seam, Memphis, Tenn.
Cotton farmers face a great amount of uncertainty going into the 2012 season. Markets, farm policy and weather are just some of the significant risks. The Seam’s perspective is that farmers are naturally good decision makers. We believe they want to manage everything that affects their business. Our goal is to bring the real-time cotton market to the farmer using technology and information. We’re hoping for a lot of progress in 2012. |
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