Weather

A new, very impressive cotton planting conditions calculator has been created by Dr. Guy Collins and Dr. Keith Edmisten with help from the Climatology Office at North Carolina State University. In this post, I highlight a few of the...

When Bon Jovi’s hit song “Livin’ on a Prayer” was released three decades ago, it quickly rose to the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 chart on Valentine’s Day 1987, according to Billboard. The lyrics particularly appeared to...

Changing weather patterns have again shaken up the 2018 planting season in the San Joaquin Valley. The good news is we finally got some rain and snowpack in the late winter and very early spring, along with promise of...

High Plains Producer Says It’s Full Speed Ahead For Cotton BY SHAWN HOLLADAY LAMESA, TEXAS EDITOR’S NOTE – Texas High Plains producer Shawn Holladay has somehow survived a four-year drought and record rainfall this spring. However, he remains confident that this year’s...

Do you ever wonder if the rest of the country really appreciates the plight of cotton farmers? Maybe that’s a ridiculous question. But it’s still intriguing to hear how the national media recently reported on a tropical storm in...

One reason I like production agriculture is because no two years are ever alike. You have to muster all your agronomic skills to deal with the crazy situations that Mother Nature hands to you. This year’s craziness has been continuous rainfall at planting time when we were supposed to be experiencing a drought. We received so much rain that fields were planted piecemeal as opportunities arose. In many cases, planting opportunities boiled down to having only a few hours in which to plant rather than several consecutive days. This is the first time in my 35 years as an agricultural consultant in the Plainview, Texas, area that rainfall has delayed cotton planting to the extent that many producers made the decision to switch from cotton to sorghum or corn because the probability of maturing an irrigated cotton crop that was planted in June was significantly diminished.So, what’s next? On the positive side, most areas are starting with a full soil profile of moisture. This will be beneficial to all crops we grow. But, if drought conditions do arrive later in the season, a full soil profile at planting will be of little consequence without timely in-season rains or irrigations.

The NCC Planting Intentions Survey shows less than a one percent increase in acreage for Missouri. Based on past reports, this may or may not happen with a lot depending on the weather. In the past, I have noticed that the Missouri intentions are usually overestimated.

Our northern friends will claim that southerners moan and groan way too much during the winter months. We simply don’t know what cold weather is all about, or so the critics say. When the weather forecasts call for two inches of snow, we panic and clean out the grocery stores. Our critics may be right about that.

Remember back in December when I was talking about some remarkable cotton crops produced last year in the Mid-South, Southeast and Southwest – even though weather conditions were less than ideal in those regions? Well, we stumbled onto one of those success stories in an area north of Lubbock, Texas, near Hale Center.

BY TOMMY HORTON EDITOR When it comes to optimism about a new crop season, nobody exudes a positive attitude better than Texas cotton producers and ginners. Yes, the state is still in the midst of a three-year drought, but there are...

For all practical purposes, the 2013 cotton has been harvested. There may be a few isolated fields that haven’t been harvested, but these would be on the heavier, wetter soils that are prone to flooding. More importantly, the modules have been taken to the gins. I haven’t seen a module truck on the road for at least three weeks.

BY TOMMY HORTON EDITOR Can torrential rains keep a cotton crop from surviving and delivering any kind of yield? If you had talked to the Doyle farm family in Emporia, Va., last July, you would have heard that question. As a matter...

MISSOURI Mike Milam [email protected] HARVEST CONTINUES IN BOOTHEEL According to the Missouri Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending, Nov. 10, cotton harvested was 64 percent complete, 18 days behind last year and 17 days behind normal. There was a lot...

Missouri’s cotton producers are ready to get this crop out of the field. However, they will need to wait longer than usual. According to the Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Sept. 15, cotton opening bolls were 10 percent complete, 33 days behind last year and 24 days behind normal.

By John Lindamood Tiptonville, Tenn. We have all heard it and probably said it ourselves. "In all my years of farming, I have never seen such strange weather!" And though it will be said again in the future, it certainly describes...