After a last-minute relief effort last session, help is on the way for farmers and ranchers. The exact date is still up in the air, but cotton growers say it cannot come soon enough.
“We’re essentially looking at a March 21st time frame that we would anticipate this money getting out into the countryside. I know that’s been a question from a lot of producers that I have visited with over the last couple of weeks as well as gin managers so that they have a better idea of what to tell their bankers as they go in and prepare for this 2025 season and go in requesting their operating loans,” said Mark Brown.
Since the 2018 Farm Bill, cotton growers have seen their production costs go up by nearly 30 percent. Analysts say this year’s input costs likely will not provide much support.
Corn inspections remain strong year-to-date, while China’s soybean and sorghum movement remains important to late-season export demand.
At the center of the announcement is the Blue Point Project in Louisiana, a $3.7 billion ammonia facility, USDA says, that will become the world’s largest ammonia plant once completed.
Southern Plains wheat shippers face higher rail fuel surcharges as hard red winter wheat production falls toward a nearly 70-year low.
USDA says both crops remain ahead of the five-year average as farmers continue monitoring dry Corn Belt conditions.
Conservation programs may work better when they recognize yield risk and cash-flow pressure during adoption.
Cotton growers can use the survey to compare nutrient, herbicide, and pest-management practices against national production benchmarks.