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Higher costs and lower prices driving U.S. cotton acreage decline

Jody Campiche with the National Cotton Council says lower prices are the reason U.S. farmers say they’ll be planting less cotton this spring.

“While there are some changes to the farm safety net that will provide higher support this year, it’s still not enough to cover all the losses.”

Campiche says production costs are 30 percent higher for cotton compared to previous growing seasons.

“It makes it really hard to make the economics work for cotton, but part of the issue is when you look at other prices of commodities, they’re not great either.”

The results from a grower survey, conducted by the NCC, says U.S. farmers intend to plant nine million acres, a decline from last year. Campiche says looking at the regional breakdowns, she was surprised to see a large decline in cotton acres expected in the mid-South.

“Maybe the magnitude of the loss is a little higher than we expected, but you never know, by the time planting season comes around, growers might change their minds, maybe they won’t come down quite so low. In the past, we’ve had good yields in those areas.”

She says it was also a surprise to see Georgia’s cotton planting intentions lower.

The USDA will also release its official acreage estimates in its planting intentions report, scheduled for March 31.

Hear Brownfield’s interview with Campiche.