TENSAS PARISH, La. (RFD-TV) — Cotton acreage in Louisiana has been shrinking for years. Low prices and crop disasters caused by storms and drought scared many farmers away from cotton. This year’s crop was expected to be the smallest on record, and it turned out to be even smaller than expected.
“We were projected to plant about 110,000 acres of cotton, which was already a huge decrease from last year,” said LSU AgCenter Cotton Specialist Shelly Pate Kerns. “I think once the certified acre reports start coming in, we’ll be right under 100,000 acres of cotton this year.”
Growing cotton comes with risk, and for farmers, the current economic climate for commodities calls for reducing risk in any way possible.
“There’s also just not a lot of safety nets in place, or at least they weren’t in place when we were planting cotton,” said Pate Kerns."With the passage of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” act, we did see safety net reforms go into place. But, unfortunately, with the recent government shutdown, some of those have been halted.”
Prices for nearly all farm commodities are below last year’s, and cotton is no exception.
“In the first part of October, we’re holding steady at around 64 cents per pound on cotton,” Pate Kerns explained. “And that’s pretty much in line with where we were at last year in October. We were about 66 cents per pound.”
The one bright spot — yields have been excellent. This field in Tensas Parish was picking nearly 1,400 pounds to the acre.
“I’d say the majority of the cotton I’ve seen, both in the field and talking with different growers, people are optimistic this year,” she said. “We’ve had some really good-looking cotton.”
Last year, cotton yields averaged 1,070 pounds per acre, and this year’s crop should meet or exceed that number. From northeast Louisiana, this is Craig Gautreaux reporting.
Not only has acreage decreased in Louisiana, but fewer gins are operating because of the shrinking supply of cotton.
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