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Report: Cotton acres hit lowest level since 1983
06/30/09 - 03:54 PM
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Report: Cotton acres hit lowest level since 1983

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) - U.S. farmers planted their fewest cotton
acres since 1983 - just over 9 million - amid a continued swapping
of acres for better priced and less-costly-to-produce crops such as
corn and soybeans.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture also reported Tuesday that
acreage planted in cotton in Mississippi and Louisiana was the
lowest on record at 270,000 and 240,000 acres, respectively.
    Nationally, acreage was down from nearly 9.5 million acres in
2008.
    “It’s pretty easily explained in that cotton is probably the
most expensive crop to grow (in Louisiana), and ... the price is
just in the tank,” said Sammye Crawford, deputy director of the
state’s branch of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
    Jess Barr, executive vice president of the Louisiana Cotton
Producers Association, said several gins in the state have shut
down in the last few years, and he expects a few more won’t operate
this fall. Cotton acres have been in freefall in Louisiana since
2006, when farmers planted 635,000 acres.
    Some of the loss in acres this year likely went into corn. USDA
estimates 700,000 acres planted in Louisiana, up from 520,000 last
year. But the recent hot, dry spell has taken a toll on that crop;
the percentage of corn rated in poor or very poor condition nearly
doubled in one week, reaching 19 percent as of Sunday. How much of
the crop gets harvested remains to be seen.
    The full toll of the abnormally dry and drought conditions also
isn’t clear yet in Texas, which accounts for more than half the
country’s total cotton acres. Acreage in the state was down
slightly this year, to about 4.9 million.
    USDA is forecasting increased cotton acreage in several states,
including Arizona, Tennessee and Georgia.
    David Ruppenicker, executive vice president of the Southern
Cotton Growers, said cotton and peanuts are often grown in rotation
in Georgia. Peanut acreage in that state is down 33 percent this
year, which he attributed to the salmonella scare of several months
ago and a carryover supply from last year.
    Global financial woes have made consumers more cautious in their
spending. But Gary Adams, chief economist for the National Cotton
Council, said a “fairly substantial drawdown” of bales on hand
domestically over the marketing year could be a sign that the
outlook for cotton is improving.