Cotton farmers wish for drier weather

16 Jul '10

2 min read

Scott Adair, agent for Hale County Extension for agriculture and national resources, was excited about the recent rains in their area, but now he is waiting for the weather to get clear and stay warm, as that's the right weather for cotton.

Since a couple of weeks, Plainview area had been receiving around 51/2 inches of rain and a few areas received even more than that.

While the rains have been advantageous for the region's corn crop, as their main time for irrigation is around mid-August. According to a farmer, this moisture will stay with his crops till atleast mid-August. Basically the milo crops have already started heading out of their shells.

But for cotton, the blooming is slowly taking place. Adair happened to have noticed the first blooms of the season, early this week.

Hence, farmers are now hoping for a warm weather, which will help the crop bloom with the required heat units. Although, farmers dislike not having rains around, but with the cotton crop around, they believe that, in the long run absence of rains will be beneficial for them.

One of the leading cotton-producing counties in the country has already experienced a mixed bag of weather conditions, with first their crops lacking behind in heat units, then they managed to catch up. But now, the crops are again lacking behind in acquiring the heat units.

Adair concluded by saying that, in terms of weather, till now they have experienced both highs and lows, with 93 degrees temperature early this week, it has only been the second time, that they experience 90-plus degree since June 28.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India