Wednesday, February 12, 1997

Cotton producers to plant 7 percent less cotton this year

By J.T. SMITH / Farm Editor

U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 13.6 million acres of upland and extra long staple cotton this year.

That's the word from the National Cotton Council's 14th annual Planting Intentions Survey.

This would be a 7.1 percent decrease from actual plantings of 14.6 million acres of cotton last year.

NCC has a highly accurate record with its planting projections.

The survey reflects growers' intentions of planting 13.4 million acres of upland cotton this year, a 7 percent decrease from 1996.

The balance would be made up of 239,000 acres of ELS cotton plantings - some 7.4 percent less than last year.

The survey results were announced at this week's National Cotton Council meeting in Orlando.

Dr. Kent Lanclos, NCC economist, says the survey was mailed to growers in late December with a mid-January deadline for returns. It reflects growers' initial planting intentions.

The report also includes only those cotton producers involved in cotton production in at least one of the last three years.

Why less cotton this year?

Looking across the entire Cotton Belt, Lanclos says the survey results reflect various factors that influence cotton acreage.

He said prices from competing commodities - such as corn and soybeans - coupled with planting flexibility are having a significant impact as the new 7-year farm law is implemented nationwide.

Nevertheless, the survey results showed even more of drop than the NCC had expected.

"The size of the intended reductions in cotton acreage was surprising to us," Lanclos said. "Growers' late December-early January intentions have have been influenced by earlier price relationships for alternative crops. Prices which strongly favored alternative crops earlier have been changing in favor of cotton in recent weeks."

Lanclos says if today's price relationships hold - or move further in cotton's favor - actual cotton plantings could be somewhat higher than suggested by the survey results.

The survey says the biggest drop in cotton for 1997 will occur in the mid-South where growers intend to plant 3.5 million acres, down 10.5 percent from 1996. Louisiana growers intend to plant only 654,000 acres of cotton this year, down from 890,000 last year - or a 26.5 percent drop in cotton acreage.

Here in the Southwest, producers said they would plant 5.4 million acres of cotton this year, compared with 5.9 million last year for a 9.6 percent reduction in cotton acreage. All three states in the region - Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas - expect considerable decreases in cotton acreage this year.

Texas growers said they will lower cotton acreage from 5.7 to 5.2 million acres - a drop of 500,000 acres or an 8.7 percent reduction in cotton acreage.

The Southeast region of the nation is expected to plant 3,077,000 acres of cotton this year - virtually the same as the 3,098,000 acres as last year.

Growers in the West region also plan on planting about the same amount of cotton this year as last - with California, Arizona and New Mexico growers aiming for 1,376,000 acres of upland cotton this year, compared with 1,375,000 acres in 1996 for those three states.

Farm Show starts this morning

Don't forget the 5th Big Country Farm and Ranch Show from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. today at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.

The show resumes for a second day from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow, with the highlight of Thursday's activities coming with the annual meeting of the Rolling Plains Cotton Growers meeting at 10 a.m. in the Round Building. U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm and Dr. James Supak of College Station, nationally noted authority on cotton production, top the list of RPCG speakers.

Meanwhile, both the Coliseum and adjacent Equestrian Center will be covered with about 350 exhibits - including the very latest in farm machinery - both days of the show. Admission is free.