Water

COMMENTARY By Kari Fisher California Farm Bureau Federation The ongoing confusion continues over what is a “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) and about which waters can be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act, with farmers and ranchers hoping this current...

Monsanto Co. And Deltapine Cotton Donate Funds To Assist Texas Farmers And Ranchers To support the recovery efforts of Texas farmers and ranchers affected by the destruction and flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, Monsanto Co. and Deltapine Cotton recently donated $200,000...

ARKANSAS The National Agricultural Statistics Service October Crop Production Report estimated Arkansas cotton production at 1 million bales, unchanged from the September forecast but 160,000 bales more than last year. Yield is expected to average 1,096 pounds per harvested acre,...

Special Report By Julie Murphree Arizona Farm Bureau Outreach Director I recently connected with the Sheely family of California and Arizona to talk about water in the west and some of the unique issues we face out here where the sagebrush...

ARIZONA Harvest season is upon us. As pickers enter the field, questions related to heat stress effects begin to be answered. Several consecutive days of heat stress during late June and mid-July had a significant impact on boll retention and...

COMMENTARY By Russell Boening Texas Farm Bureau President A challenge brings out the best in us, but a horrific natural disaster shows everyone just how strong they truly are. And here in the Lone Star State, we made a new category —...

Georgia’s cotton growers lost at least 10 percent of their crop to Tropical Storm Irma but yield losses are likely to reach 20 percent and higher as the season unfolds, UGA Cotton Agronomist Jared Whitaker said. “From preliminary observations, it...

Texas cotton losses estimated to be as much as 400,000 bales By Julie Murphree Arizona Farm Bureau Outreach Director Out west, just about everyone has some connection to Texas. I do. All my dad’s farm family migrated from Texas to Arizona in...

Water regulations, including sustainable groundwater act, make uncertainty the norm for California growers By Vicky Boyd Managing Editor During the six-year California drought that ended earlier this year, Travis Fugitt watched as the standing water level in his wells dropped to about 250...

California water supply unpredictability complicates producers’ short- and long-term planning. By Vicky Boyd Managing Editor California received near-record rains and snow this past winter, filling reservoirs to the brim and prompting irrigation districts to allocate full water supplies. But cotton producers say the...

ARIZONA As the cotton-growing season winds down and final irrigations have been made, we begin to look at decisions for harvest preparation and harvest aids application. There are two main components of this decision, and each can be influenced by...

  ARIZONA In my travels around the state over recent weeks, I have observed cotton fields at all stages of development. The crop in western Arizona has now been terminated and is being prepped for harvest. The remainder of the state...

The National Agricultural Statistics Service October Crop Production report estimated Arkansas cotton production to be at 1,088 pounds lint per acre, unchanged from last month but down 4 pounds from 2015. This exceeds our 5-year average of 1,073 pounds lint per acre by 15 pounds. Our crop continues to be ahead of schedule. As about half of our crop has been harvested this season, the 5-year average for the same date was just shy of 30 percent harvested. Reports of fiber quality have been good. Lack of rainfall during much of the harvest season has resulted in excellent color grades. Just over 45 percent has received a color grade of 31 or better. About 80 percent of the bales classed have a leaf grade of 4 or less. Micronaire values this season have averaged 4.6 with less than 17 percent in the discount range of 5 or greater. In Arkansas, we generally expect to see our early crop outyield our later crop. This is not what most farmers are experiencing this season. The extended wet and cloudy August weather came just as our early crop was starting to open. Reports of 1.25 to 1.5 bales per acre were heard from our early cotton as the occurrence of boll rot and hard lock was great. Fortunately, yields improved as harvest progressed. Our good fields are yielding in excess of 3 bales per acre. The 4-bale yield potential we had in many fields the first part of August slipped away.

CALIFORNIA California Central Valley farmers have finally been blessed with some decent rain, snowpack and irrigation water supplies for this year. Although we have water, variable cool weather periods mean a limited acreage of cotton seed was in the ground...

ARIZONA Deciding on the appropriate time to begin planting cotton in the spring can be a difficult decision. Warm, early spring days will sometimes provide an “itch” to get into the field and start planting. However, warm spring days can...