MEMPHIS, Texas (RFD News) — Cotton harvest is underway in South Texas, but much of the state’s crop still needs rain.
Kevin Huddleston, owner and operator at K. Huddleston Cotton Company, said harvest has started in the Rio Grande Valley and is expected to move north in the coming weeks.
“As you look at harvest, we started in the Rio Grande Valley. They harvested, I don’t know, just maybe a couple of gins started up down there, probably north of Corpus. As we roll forward, north of Corpus into the upper Coastal Bend, it’ll probably be middle to the latter part of August, but we see anything coming up. The stalk up there, the class has not classed anything as of yet, but we’re going to have to have follow-up rains in the Texas Panhandle and south of Lubbock.”
With harvest just beginning in South Texas, Huddleston said attention is now turning to fields farther north.
“Even when you look at Oklahoma, the Oklahoma crop is starting to go backwards. There’s no water out on the lake over there and they’ve cut some of the irrigation back down due to drought. It’s a widespread area. Then everybody realizes, some of this cotton that was planted in the middle of June, it can hang on a little bit longer, but we’re going to have some rain August 10th, the 15th, or you’re going to see these cotton crops typically go backwards.”
He said the next round of weather could play a major role in determining yield potential across the region.
