Harvest

Virginia’s cotton and peanut harvests are lagging due to a series of disruptive weather events, and the threat of additional rain could further dampen farmers’ efforts. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service Nov. 9 crop report, Virginia’s cotton and peanut harvests are just 35% and 65% complete, respectively. At this time last year, Virginia farmers had completed the peanut ... Read More »

With limited irrigation water in many areas and some difficult early and midseason problems with lygus in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, we have a wide range of yields across fields this year. Under limited water situations and generally warm, dry weather this fall, many growers are seeing good to very good performance of harvest aid chemicals. Preparations for ... Read More »

While this article may come out a bit late for some of the cotton harvest, I believe moisture is an important topic to review. It is one of those things we, as ginners, often have a love-hate relationship with. Moisture adds weight and weight is money. The problem is, too much moisture (particularly at harvest or in the bale) can ... Read More »

In the past six months during the coronavirus pandemic, the resilience of the human spirit has been tested beyond what many have ever experienced. The question that looms, whether spoken or unspoken, is “Will we make it through?” Sadly, some didn’t, but many have. I, for one, am optimistic about our future. In general, the agriculture sector has physically fared ... Read More »

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is a saying first attributed to a 1530s animal husbandry book in reference to sheep dogs. I’d like to think it doesn’t apply to cotton growers and ag professionals. With that assumption, I’d like to propose two harvest-time challenges. • A Quick Plant Map. After defoliation but before harvest, take 5 minutes ... Read More »

Sporting a faded, floppy-brimmed fedora, Aunt Blanche would lay on the horn of her bob truck even though my older brother, Mike, and I were waiting for her on our front porch. We grabbed our new 9-foot-long Bemis Blue Cat cotton picking sacks made of heavy canvas with rubber dots on the bottom, and our paper bag lunches of rag ... Read More »

• By Clint Thompson • Georgia’s cotton crop was decimated by Hurricane Michael in 2018. Now, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension cotton agronomist Jared Whitaker is hoping his research will help alleviate some of the risks associated with harvesting cotton when tropical systems arrive in the fall. “With cotton production, we can’t do anything to prevent damage to the crop ... Read More »