Open weather makes good quality of High Plains crop

08 Dec '05

3 min read

Plains Cotton Growers Inc (PCG) reported that the High Plains cotton producers have taken full advantage of favorable October/November weather conditions to craft significant progress toward getting the 2005 crop from the stalk to the module.

Because of the unbolt weather that has prevailed since harvest got underway more than six weeks ago the area is estimated to be approaching the 70 percent harvested mark entering the first week of December.

Now, producers with cotton still in the field are looking to maintain their momentum and hopefully complete the bulk of their harvest before Christmas.

So far the only delays producers have experienced in 2005 have been caused by high winds accompanying several weather systems that have passed through the area.

Fortunately delays caused by excessive wind have rarely kept producers out of the field for more than a day. This is a significantly different, and preferable, situation for growers compared to the conditions they struggled to overcome in 2004 when multiple weather systems brought precipitation in amounts that caused significant harvest delays across the area.

Through December 1 cotton quality reports from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service-Cotton Division show that the 2005 crop could possibly be one of the highest quality crops ever produced on the Texas High Plains when all production finally gets ginned and classed.

To date the Lubbock and Lamesa Cotton Classing offices have processed a combined 2,089,052 bales, nearly 40 percent of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service 5.3 million bale production estimate for the High Plains. A 5.3 million bale crop would establish a new production record for the area, breaking the previous record of 4.9 million bales set in 2004.

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