Cotton News

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, parts of Texas are experiencing severe or extreme drought, especially in the Panhandle region and parts of West Texas.

“Compared to my farm’s rainfall totals last year, I am minus 8 inches for the year,” said Jeremy Brown, producer in Dawson County. “That’s how dry it is right now.”

While West Texas weather is unpredictable at times, meteorologists are confident these dry conditions will extend deep into the spring. Jody James, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS) in Lubbock attributes much of the drought conditions to La Niña.

“We had a break from (La Niña) last summer for a couple of months,” he told the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. “But we look at the three-month moving averages, and 15 of the last 17 sessions have been in La Niña.”

Current drought conditions posed a fire risk for more of the Texas Panhandle on Monday and Tuesday of this week, which is likely to continue most of 2022.

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Eric Snodgrass, principal atmospheric scientist with Nutrien Ag Solutions, identifies three big weather players in the 2022 crop season during the Top Producer Summit held Feb. 16th in Nashville, Tenn.

No. 1: Drought in Brazil

Brazil’s commodity output is significant enough that its current drought conditions are capable of upending production numbers and influencing market scales, according to Farm Journal.

No. 2 Drought in the Plains

As of now, 72% of the U.S. is in at least a minimal stage of drought — the highest percentage since 2012.

No. 3: Ocean Temperatures in the Pacific

Ocean temperatures are a symptom of the behavior of the atmosphere. If the cold water presently in the Gulf of Alaska expands south to California by June 1st , the 38% risk of drought in the middle of the U.S. goes to 60%.

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Hurricane Ida disabled the Bayer glyphosate plant in September.

China bans exports into June while hosting the Winter Olympics.

A supplier of an ingredient for glyphosate experienced a mechanical failure.

Combined with shipping and logistics issues, glyphosate shortage stories have dominated agricultural news outlets. However, the shortage divide is closing according to Mike Massey, with pesticide manufacturer Ragan & Massey.

In September, the world’s acid production necessary for glyphosate was less than 5%, he said. “But in the past 60 to 90 days, plants have been online and shipping hard,” he added. “So, as I see it, we may have a week here or there where inventory is interrupted, but it’ll get resolved. Unless another one of these crazy things happens, we won’t have any supply issues.”

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack put the question of input price increases to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) February 17th, requesting an investigation.

The DOJ said it was undertaking a new initiative aimed at ensuring companies weren’t taking advantage of the supply chain snags by raising prices on consumers, said Progressive Farmer DTN Staff Reporter Todd Neeley.

The DOJ asks for anyone with information on “price fixing, bid rigging, market-allocation agreements or other anticompetitive conduct” to call in a report to the Antitrust Division Citizen Complain Center at 1-888-647-3258.

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2022 USDA Commodity Outlook Report Released

The 2022 Commodity Outlook Report was released at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual Ag Outlook Forum on Thursday.

Read the full report here.

The following is a summary of the cotton classed at the Lubbock and Lamesa USDA Cotton Division Cotton Classing Offices for the 2021 production season.

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Legislative Update: Protect Dicamba Usage

2022 NCC Officers and Award Winners

Should I Buy STAX?

Sourcing Inputs for the 2022 Season

Tracing Cotton to Geographic Source

2021 Cotton Quality Summary (Weekly)

Economic Outlook Infographic

In Case You Missed It

Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., and 65 of his GOP colleagues are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take steps to ensure growers can continue to use dicamba in over-the-top applications, according to an article by Agri-Pulse.

EPA announced in December that it was considering further restrictions on the herbicide, stating that measures imposed for 2021 had failed to reduce complaints of herbicide drift.

Lawmakers claim this report to be flawed, noting that producers have already placed orders for the chemical to use during the upcoming growing season.

“Bottom lines of producers would be negatively impacted should new restrictions arise for dicamba,” said Kody Bessent, Plains Cotton Growers Inc. “Considering the shortage of glyphosate that is on the horizon, producers need to be able to use dicamba as a tool for crop protection.”

Got Glyphosate?

A “substantial reduction in production rates” at a manufacturing plant that supplies one of the raw ingredients needed to make glyphosate herbicide will affect Bayer’s ability to deliver products containing the chemical, the company says.

The following producers, ginners and cooperative officials were named officers or award winners at the 2022 National Cotton Council of America (NCC) Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.

NCC Vice Chairman: Shawn Holladay

NCC Advisory Board Member: Barry Evans

Cotton Council International (CCI) President: Carlos Garcia

National Cotton Ginners Association Chairman: Curtis Stewart

CCI Director: Kevin Brinkley

NCC Board of Directors: Robert Lacy, Eric Wanjura, Keith Lucas

American Cotton Producers State Producer Chairmen: Brent Nelson, Stacy Smith

One of the questions we’ve been asked the most is whether a producer should purchase a Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) insurance policy for the 2022 crop year.

While we would never presume to know what’s best for a producer — because we are neither on the hook for paying the premiums, nor do we know a particular producer’s financial situation or appetite for risk — we have been encouraging producers to take a closer look at STAX.

Read the full article by Bart Fischer and Joe Outlaw with the Agricultural and Food Policy Center here. 

Technology that identifies the source of cotton sampled by analyzing its genetic or chemical footprint is appealing to fashion brands worried about their fibers’ origins. However, turning this concept into reality is not as simple as it sounds.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which deploys the same concept described above to detect COVID-19, could potentially analyze cotton’s DNA as well. “The results can then be checked against a database of known samples to separate, say organic material grown in Gujarat from cotton coming from Xinjiang, which the U.S. banned from import last year,” said Marc Bain, journalist for the Business of Fashion.

While far from reality at the moment, producers should expect rising demand for genetic tracing from brands and retailers in the future.

The following is a summary of the cotton classed at the Lubbock and Lamesa USDA Cotton Division Cotton Classing Offices for the 2021 production season.