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Fewer cotton acres to be planted on a Missouri Bootheel farm
A farmer in the Missouri Bootheel says not as many cotton acres will get planted on his farm due to the consistent, heavy rains this spring.
The final planting date for cotton in the Missouri Bootheel is May 20 and Barry Bean says cotton prices need to be better for late planting, beyond June 1, to be worth the risk.
“We joke sometimes about planting some May 32 cotton, but we don’t like to do that and I think this year, some of our May 34 and 35th cotton will turn to soybeans.”
Bean says storms with high winds over Memorial Day weekend sand blasted cotton and caused excess flooding in fields.
“I was visiting with a scout this morning who was scouting on the north end of New Madrid County. He said on his operation he had possibly as high as 20% of his cotton acres he didn’t expect to bring to harvest.”
Bean says even where cotton acres remain challenges with weed management could cause quality issues for the crop.
“On one field he said he got it planted and it rained them out and he couldn’t follow up on herbicide applications. Now, they have a field that’s so filled with weeds it’s unclear if they’ll be able to get in there and clean it up in time for the cotton to develop normally.”
He says his farm will take prevent plant on a few hundred acres of cotton and there more rains in the forecast over the next few days. Hear the interview.
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