Growing Cotton: It's Like Playing Poker
By: Stephanie Berzinski
Updated: October 15, 2009
The Texas Cotton Associaton reported good and bad news concerning this season's cotton yield. Experts at their annual marketing meeting said the High Plains is expected to yield 3.8 million bales of cotton, up 900,000 from 2008. However, that's a revised projection, down about 300,000 bales becuase unpredictable weather has impacted crops. Spring drought and September cold has many farmers now preparting for a financially tight season.
"South east of here they didn't have any rain, no irrigation, they didn't make nothing so it's been tough on them. Anybody that didn't make a crop it's been tough on them. Hopefully we're gonna try and come back and break even, hopefully a little bit more," said cotton farmer Earl Foerster who's been growing cotton for nearly 60 years.
But Foerster said his biggest money battle is rising production costs. He said farm equipment, parts and repairs have doubled in price in just the past year.
For more information on this year's cotton growth you can log onto the website www.tca-cotton.org.
