Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to catch up with Mark Nichols, a cotton grower from Altus, Oklahoma. Nichols serves as ACP (American Cotton Producers) Producer Chairman for Oklahoma.
“It started off really well,” Nichols said. “We, you know, all across the state got pretty good rains, but these temperatures that we’ve been experiencing in the last couple of weeks have really taken a toll on the cotton crop.”
Nichols said that although rain has been spotty across the state, most places received decent rains to start off the cotton crop well this year. Hot temperatures in the 100-110 range have taken a toll on it since.
“All those rains were just kind of to the north and to the east of our watershed,” Nichols said. “We, again, are not going to have enough water in there to make a water run.”
Although Nichols is in irrigation country, he said, unfortunately, the rains missed the watershed, only hurting the crop and limiting the options of producers this year.
“We’ve got lots of pivots down in Tillman County, and the cotton in Tilman County actually looks really good,” Nichols said.
Nichols said that he’s looking forward to attending the National Cotton Council American Cotton Producers Meeting later this week to hear more about what cotton looks like in other parts of the country. In Oklahoma, Nichols said Tillman County has shown the most promise with this year’s cotton crop.
Although optimism is running low for the cotton this year, Nichols said that if we get a little rain, there might be hope for some cotton to make a crop this year.
“It went to wheat and came out of cotton and didn’t go back to cotton,” Nichols said. “So, we are down about 100,000 acres. But overall, I think the cotton got off to a better start than it did last year.”
With many producers putting wheat in behind failed cotton, numbers are down for cotton in Oklahoma this year.
Nichols said that other parts of the country have more options. Between soybeans and corn north of Oklahoma and peanuts and wheat in the midsouth and southeast, rotating crops is a lot easier, making crops a lot better than what our Oklahoma producers have to work with.
Nichols also talked with Sheperd about the latest work of the National Cotton Council.
“Farm bill is the is the big focus with the National Cotton Council right now,” Nichols said.
Like many parts of the agricultural industry, Nichols said the Farm Bill is a large priority for the National Cotton Council. Nichols said that Chairman Thompson is trying to work on what that could look like unless an extension is put in place.
