Agricultural News
OSU Cotton Specialist Seth Byrd Talks Cotton Harvest and Looks to 2022
Sun, 14 Nov 2021 06:42:04 CST
Oklahoma cotton producers are in the midst of the 2021 cotton harvest season. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network's Associate Farm Director KC Sheperd talked with Dr. Seth Byrd, OSU Exension Cotton Specialist about what he is hearing from producers at this critical stage of the cotton crop cycle.
"A lot of variability- a lot of fields yielding more than we thought and many yielding about what we thought" sums up what Byrd is seeing as harvest unfolds. The problem is that many watching this 2021 cotton crop set low expectations early in the growing season.
"Analysts and producers recognized that high yields weren't likely to happen given weather conditions at the start of the growing season. We've seen the crop fruit higher up on the plant than it normally does. The cotton looks good visually, but it took longer to fruit and that affects yields."
Byrd adds "During harvest, weather conditions become the primary concern. However, we've had some high-wind and storm events and Oklahoma cotton seems to have come through fairly well. It's evident the crop has been rained on, but we haven't seen indications of significant yield loss. Harvesting delays have been minimal."
As of Nov. 8, about 50% of Oklahoma's cotton crop has been harvested with nearly 100% of irrigated cotton harvested.
Byrd also tells Sheperd on dollar cotton " You're never going to get anyone complaining when prices are high- and dollar cotton is certainly nothing to complain about." He adds that with cotton holding at these historic levels- it could attract more acres when it comes to planting the 2022 crop- but costs and availability of inputs are a concern.
They also talk about the management needed for anyone growing a cotton crop- "even if you had one hundred percent pest control and you had your fertility right on time- it doesn't make it a crop that you can walk away from- you got to manage season long- you gor to be in it season long- you can't do a drive by- you have go to be in the corp."
Listen to KC and Seth's complete conversation by clicking on the listen bar below.
(Picture above taken by KC Sheperd as cotton producer Danny Davis harvests the 2021 cotton crop)
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...