BRIAN PIERALISI
MISSISSIPPI
Mother nature never gets tired of throwing curve balls at us in Mississippi! We had the driest spring that I can remember. Farmers were planting soybeans in March and running out of moisture in April causing some growers to wait on a rain to plant cotton. The first two weeks of May were slightly cooler and wetter than normal, but most of the cotton was planted.
Then the rain started. As I write this on June 9, we have struggled to find a dry field in 30 days. Last week, the lighter-textured soil dried up enough for some farmers to finish up planting. It appears that we should have a small window to finish up everything this week before the next round of rain moves in this weekend.
Most of the calls that I have fielded were from stand loss and replant decisions. In 2025, Mississippi planted a lot of June cotton, which ended up picking better than much of the earlier cotton. It is unusual for this to occur and was dictated by an unusually dry and mild fall that lasted through November. I hope we are lucky this year and that Mother Nature throws a fast ball right down the middle! ∆
BRIAN PIERALISI
MISSISSIPPI