Devastating storms wreak havoc on Georgia cotton crop

According to experts, Georgia cotton producers are in a difficult spot after storms damaged their crops.

Severe weather has left some Georgia cotton producers in a difficult spot. Many are still assessing the damage and monitoring the fields. Experts say cotton producers are in a difficult spot after storms damaged their crops.

“If you planted early, to just coming out of the ground, so there’s a lot of variability in our crop and the impacts on the crop, kind of depend on what stage it’s in, said Camp Hand, Cotton Agronomist with the University of Georgia Extension.

According to Hand, this is a bad situation—as seedling cotton is a vulnerable crop—but believes there’s still hope.

He said it is too late to replant, and the only thing producers can do is wait on sunshine and warmer weather.

“The thing about it is—if you’ve got seedling cotton that was killed pretty much—I wouldn’t replant today.” Hand said. “You know that—and you can’t, because it’s too wet, right? So, either you’ve got to stick with what you’ve got, or we’ve got to change course. Because it’s a little too late to replant cotton in terms of trying to bring it out of this. What we need is sunshine and 90-degree days.”

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