2008 High Plains Crop Falls Just Below 3 Million Bales
May 20, 2009 By Shawn Wade
Plains Cotton Growers
The 2008 production season was a “tough row to hoe” on the High Plains as drought and dry, tenacious winds combined to keep one-third of the area’s cotton acres from achieving a stand. The end result was a disappointing 2008 Upland cotton crop totaling only 2,993,700 bales.
A huge factor in the production drop-off was drought conditions that kept High Plains cotton acres behind the eight ball from the very beginning
Planted acreage in 2008 was nearly identical to the number seeded to the crop in 2007 but suffered a vastly different final outcome. The area’s 3.27 million planted cotton acres were well below the region’s high water mark of 3.8 million acres planted just a few years ago.
Harvested acreage plummeted in 2008 with total abandonment of 1.322 million bales, a staggering 40% abandonment rate from initial plantings. Abandonment on the near-record 2007 High Plains crop was a much lower 5.8%.
According to the final county level production estimates released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) on May 13, the Plains Cotton Growers 41-county service area accounted for 65.9% of the 4.45 million bales of Upland cotton produced in Texas last season.
On a national basis the High Plains accounted for 24.1% of the 12.384 million Upland bales produced in the United States in 2008.
A complete run-down of 2008-crop statistics for planted and harvested acreage, yield per harvested acre and total bales produced in PCG’s 41-county service area is included in the table that accompanies this article.
A complete listing of the 2008 Upland cotton production totals for Texas and other states is available on the NASS website. Just click on the “Quick Stats” link to search for the data you want to find.
Plans Cotton Growers’ website offers a table of PCG 41-counties planted and harvested acreage, along with yield and production.
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
