Wet Weather Slows U.S. Cotton Harvest

By Jim.Robinson|November 5, 2009

Weeks of rainfall across the Delta region have slowed the U.S. cotton harvest to its most sluggish pace in the past 25 years. According to the USDA, just 28 percent of the nation’s cotton was harvested by November 1. The last time the harvest was under 40 percent on November 1 was in 1984, when 35 percent of the harvest was complete.

As of the end of October, USDA reports that 91 percent of the nation’s acreage had bolls open. That is 1 percent ahead of last year and on par with the five-year average. Development to the
open-boll stage was still at least 10 percent behind normal in Alabama, Kansas, and Missouri.

The most significant harvesting delays have taken place in the Delta region, where rainfall and saturated fields are limiting fieldwork. Ron Sparks, agriculture commissioner in Alabama, told the Associated Press that the state’s farmers are in a potential crisis mode if they don’t get dry weather within the next two weeks.

The rain has affected the quality of the cotton crop as well. USDA reports that nearly half of the crop in each state is being rated in poor or very poor condition.