Hail hammers High Plains cotton

A few minutes of torrential rain and battering hail turned thousands of acres of West Texas cotton into shredded bits of soggy white fluff last Thursday (Oct. 21) as a devastating storm moved from northern Yoakum County through parts of Terry, Hockley, Lubbock, Lynn and Crosby Counties.

Estimates of economic losses are still being evaluated, according to association and Texas AgriLife Extension sources, but some counties may suffer as much as 50 percent loss. With cotton currently selling for more than $1 per pound and farmers anticipating a good, if not a bumper crop, financial losses will be significant.

“It’s bad,” says Terry County Extension agent Chris Bishop. He says the area from Gomez to Tokio to Wellman “was hit extremely hard. Losses in that area could range from 50 percent to 100 percent in some fields. East of Brownfield, we’ve not seen as much damage.”