Cotton Harvest Jumps 13 Percent, Says USDA

By Jim.Robinson|October 28, 2013

The 2013 cotton crop is ready to come out of the fields, based on the October 27 edition of the USDA Crop Progress report.

In the past week, the percentage of open bolls throughout the primary cotton-growing states jumped to 92 percent – 11 percentage points above last week’s report and essentially even with the four-year average for this date.

The report also noted that 34 percent of the nation’s crop has now been harvested – a 13 percent increase in the past week. Louisiana, Mississippi and California continue to lead in picking, with double-digit increases also reported this week in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.

With harvest underway and barring extreme weather conditions, the overall crop condition is essentially set. Forty-four percent of the crop is rated good-to-excellent, 32 percent is judged fair, and 24 percent is considered poor-to-very poor – virtually unchanged in the past seven days.