Specialists Speaking- Camp Hand

Camp Hand
GEORGIA

The 2026 cotton crop in Georgia has been a roller coaster. In April, we were afraid we wouldn’t get planted because it was too dry, and we weren’t able to finish planting in June because it was too wet. Overall, we are in a much better place than we were in 2025 in terms of acreage. Based on numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Georgia Boll Weevil Eradication, we are in all likelihood slightly over a million acres. There are some people who will agree with me and others who won’t, but cotton acres being 1.2 million or more in Georgia is good for Georgia agriculture. It helps with rotations and keeps gins going; we are extremely close to the port in Savannah, making it easy for shipment overseas. We are climbing back from the lowest cotton acreage since 1996, but we would be better suited if we had more cotton in Georgia.

Bolls are opening on some of our May-planted cotton, and folks are beginning to think about defoliation. The biggest thing I will remind folks of is timeliness, especially if you may be in a bind with whiteflies or jassids — the quicker you take the leaves off the plant, the quicker you end that battle. Timeliness in defoliation will help us with both of these pests going into 2027.

We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone at field days throughout August and look forward to seeing everyone in Tifton on Sept. 2 at the Cotton and Peanut Research Field Day as well as the Cotton Field Day in Watkinsville, Georgia, on Sept. 29. As always, if you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Camp Hand
GEORGIA