By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Despite an arid midsummer and tropical storms in early fall,
Georgia’s 2004 cotton crop is surprisingly good. But the quality
still needs improving for farmers to consistently sell their
crop on the competitive world market.
About 200 farmers, specialists and industry representatives met
in Tifton, Ga., Dec. 14 to learn more about Georgia cotton at
the University of Georgia’s 2004 Cotton Production Workshop.
Weather mixed
Weather in early summer was good to Georgia’s crop, said Steve
Brown, a cotton agronomist with the UGA Extension Service. But
July and August turned hot and dry, generally bad for cotton.
Then September brought four tropical storms, all carrying strong
winds and heavy rain — 15 to 20 inches around southwest
Georgia, Brown said.
At the time, farmers were just about ready to harvest a crop
that was near maturity and didn’t need more rain. The winds
knocked some cotton to the ground, making it unharvestable.
Early losses from tropical storms alone were estimated at 20
percent. But farmers expect to make about 686 pounds per acre,
about 15 percent less than last year’s good harvest. Georgia
will produce about 1.8 million bales.
“The crop turned out a lot better than we expected,” Brown
said. “It appears we dodged a bullet in 2004.”
The United States is expected to produce 22.8 million bales, a
record, Brown said. Nine out of 17 cotton-growing states will
have record cotton production this year.
Quality better?
Overall, Georgia’s 2004 cotton quality was good, especially in
color and strength, he said. The state’s farmers sprayed to
control stinkbugs this year. CAES research has found that
stinkbugs can damage fiber development.
Timely defoliation and harvest of the crop, Brown said, seemed
to improve the crop’s quality.
But Georgia’s cotton still fell short in one important grading
category: uniformity, the length and consistency of the fiber.
Since 1999, textile mills have complained that Georgia’s cotton
doesn’t run well through newer, high-speed mills. It was
reported last year that some mills will stop buying it because
of this.
“There is a perception out there that Georgia cotton will
perform worse in the mills than other cotton,” said South Bryan,
who buys cotton for Avondale Mills.
Avondale hasn’t run enough of Georgia’s 2004 crop through its
mills to know how it will perform, Bryan said. But if it runs
poorly, Georgia’s stigma for poor cotton will only get worse.
World cotton
The U.S. textile industry continues to dwindle. Two of every
three bales of cotton produced in the United States now have to
find a foreign buyer, said Don Shurley, a UGA Extension cotton
economist. Just a few years ago, only one of three bales was
sold abroad.
textile industry. But farmers there expect a large crop this
year, about 30 million bales.
This and other global factors have dropped cotton prices to
around 40 cents per pound, down from 68 cents per pound in
January, he said.
“But with the size of this crop,” Shurley said, “it could be
worse.”
If the world produces as much cotton next year as it did this
year, prices will likely be worse, he said. But if they don’t,
prices could be at least 10 cents per pound higher.
Not all of Georgia’s cotton is of questionable quality, said
Phillip Jost, UGA Extension Service cotton agronomist. Some is
excellent.
The UGA cotton team and Georgia Cotton Commission will begin
giving the Georgia Quality Cotton Award annually next year.
Cotton ginners will nominate farmers in three categories related
to the number of acres grown. The award is sponsored by Bayer
Crop Sciences.
