by Mary Jane Buerkle, PCG
Mother Nature generally was not kind to Texas High Plains cotton growers
during the 2019 crop year, beginning with an especially wet May that
caused some growers to abandon cotton planting altogether, and ending with
a below-average harvest, thanks largely to an especially hot and dry August.
Cotton growers in the PCG service area produced just more than 3 million
bales in 2019, which is below the historical average. This is a decrease
from the 3.94 million 480-pound bales produced during the 2018 growing
season, and also less than the 3,235,000 million projected by NASS in
their January 2020 report for Districts 1-N and 1-S.
Planted acreage in 2019 was down more than 500,000 acres from the previous
year, totaling just more than 4.2 million acres. Some of this was due to
growers in the northern Panhandle not being able to plant at all due to
wet conditions. The abandonment figure for 2019 of about 44 percent shows
that the final production number could have been significantly higher, as
the year started with promise but excessive heat and the absence of late
summer rains affected development during a critical time.
According to the final county level production estimates released this
week by NASS, the Plains Cotton Growers 42-county service area accounted
for about 48 percent of the 6.3 million bales of upland cotton produced in
Texas this past season. To compare, the Texas High Plains usually produces
about two-thirds of the state’s crop. Statewide production was down 32
percent from 2018, and the average yield per acre statewide was also was
down almost 24 percent from last year at 578 pounds per acre.
On a national basis, Texas growers accounted for about 33 percent of the
19.2 million upland bales produced in the United States in 2019, easily
maintaining their position as the No. 1 cotton producing state in the
nation. Georgia was second with 2.74 million bales, and Mississippi was
third with just more than 1.62 million bales. To further illustrate just
how challenging this year was on the Texas High Plains, for the first time
in a long time, a PCG-area county did not top the production charts
nationally. In 2019, just 4 of the top 10 cotton-producing counties in the
nation were within 80 miles of Lubbock.
Hockley County was the top-producing county on the High Plains and fifth
in the nation in 2019, with 248,500 480-pound bales of cotton and
averaging 495 pounds per harvested acre. Lubbock County was second with
237,000 bales, and Lynn County third at 236,100. Overall yield per
harvested acre on the High Plains averaged 506 pounds in 2018, down from
768 in 2018.
Joining Hockley, Lubbock and Lynn counties in the top ten cotton-producing
counties in the High Plains Region (reported in 480-lb bales) were: Gaines,
213,100; Hale, 202,800; Crosby, 187,300; Lamb, 173,700; Terry, 172,000;
Dawson, 160,300; and Floyd, 158,800.
As for yield, Castro County ranked at the top for 2019, averaging 1,044
pounds per harvested acre. Hartley County was second in yield per
harvested acre at 1,030 pounds.
A complete listing of the 2019 upland cotton production totals for Texas
and other states is available on the NASS website
(http://www.nass.usda.gov).
