Rain trashes Mid-South cotton
Dec 11, 2009 9:37 AM, By Elton Robinson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
Stewart says ginners were financially affected by the delayed season because they often had to pay contracted employees even though cotton wasn’t running through the gin. In addition, lower-than-expected volume due to the short crop has significantly cut revenues.
Bryan Jones, president of the north region for Bank Plus, which provides ag loans for producers in Humphreys, Holmes and Yazoo counties in Mississippi, was perhaps one of the first ag lenders to know there was a problem with Mid-South crops. That’s because Jones is also a farmer, producing cotton, corn and soybeans around Tchula, Miss.
Jones says the rains cut his cotton crop yield “by more than half. We had as good a crop as I’ve ever had around Sept. 1, and we just watched it go away. It was a disaster any way you look at it. My dad always talked about how bad the 1957 crop was, but I think this was worse.”
Jones says reductions in Mid-South cotton acreage due to higher corn and soybean prices have been reverberating through the countryside for several years. “We’ve already cut back our gross revenues so much, now that cotton is a second or third crop instead of the main crop. It affects all the small businesses in our small towns, like the automobile dealers, the tractor dealers, parts stores, entomologists. There is just not as much money involved in the production of grains as there is in cotton.
“On top of that, you have this disaster, and I’m wondering who is going to farm next year. Each situation is going to be different. Hopefully, the lenders will help some, and maybe some of the (input providers) can help out too.”
Jones’ plan for his own farm won’t be much different from what will be worked out for farmer-customers of his bank. “I’m going to have to liquidate some assets to settle up and get together a plan for another year.”
In 2008, an effort by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La, Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and others to approve assistance for the hurricane losses was not successful in spite of strong support by the National Cotton Council and other groups, suggesting that this year may again be a challenging environment.
During a recent meeting this year with key members of Congress, Jay Hardwick, NCC chairman, and Newellton, La., cotton producer, conveyed concerns that growers, ginners, warehousemen, cottonseed handlers and related agribusinesses have about the significant financial losses resulting from the rain-delayed harvest of cotton and other crops in the Mid-South and Southeast regions, particularly in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana.
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