Crop Progress: An Equal, But Concerning, Cotton Report

The USDA Crop Progress report for the week ending July 3, tells a story of equality – and not necessarily in a good sense for cotton.

For the second consecutive week, crop condition for cotton has settled into essentially three equal components – 36% good/excellent, 33% fair, and 31% poor/very poor. That’s a shift of only one percentage point from good to poor. As a reminder, last year’s crop was rated 52% good/excellent, 38% fair, and only 10% poor/very poor. Rain is desperately needed across most of the Cotton Belt.

The report also showed that 44% of the crop is now squaring – up 11 percentage points in the past week and right on the 5-year average for the date. Boll set is reported in 13% of the crop – up five points from last week and slightly ahead of the 5-year average.