Welcome to the July 12, 2024 issue of Cotton News, a service provided by Plains Cotton Growers Inc. for the cotton industry in the Texas High Plains and beyond.
Plains Cotton Improvement Program Strives to Fulfill Mission for Producers
Cotton Extension Specialist Ken Legé presents a RACE trial in Crosby County on July 12, 2024. Photo Credit: Brooke Shumate, Texas A&M AgriLife.
On July 12, the Plains Cotton Improvement Program took center stage at the Plains Cotton Advisory Group meeting, as Ken Legé provided a virtual tour of a Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation (RACE) trial in Crosby County. Legé, the cotton extension specialist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Center in Lubbock, along with extension entomologist Suhas Vyavhare, provided insight into crop conditions and pest management practices on Jonathan James’ farm near Mount Blanco, Texas.
James has been a long-time committee member of the Plains Cotton Improvement Program (PCIP) and is participating in two RACE trials with Legé as the grower operator.
For his trials, James has two weather stations — one on his irrigated field and one on a dryland field. The real-time data is valuable to him as he makes decisions throughout the growing season.
“We all know that just because one area received five-tenths of precipitation, not every field did,” James added. “It’s nice to see the data prove the variability — these stations are a mile apart from each other and yet the rainfall difference is pretty significant.” Want to see the difference? Click here.
Legé intends for the RACE trials to benefit prohttps://www.plainscotton.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-12-at-5.36.15 PM.pdfducers and seed companies with data that will help determine the most successful cottonseed varieties for the Texas High Plains.
“We want this information to be useful for our producers,” he said. “That’s the whole mission of PCIP and extension’s partnership with this program.”
Behind the scenes of the RACE trial virtual showcase at the July 12 Plains Cotton Advisory Group Meeting. Photo credits: Brendan Kelly, TTU and Brooke Shumate (inset), Texas A&M AgriLife.
Weather Stations:
This year, the Plains Cotton Improvement Committee voted to fund the purchase of weather stations for the RACE trial plots. This data can be accessed in real time from your smartphone or computer. To view on your computer, visit http://www.weatherlink.com/ and create an account to search weather stations.
To access on your smartphone download the WeatherLink app by Davis Instrumentals. (Link to Apple device app) (Link to Android device app)
Once you’ve signed up and logged in, you can search weather stations by name. The table below lists the names of the weather stations (last column on the right) as well as county locations.
2023 Final County Yields Announced; AIPs Issuing 2023 STAX Payments
The USDA Risk Management Agency published final 2023 county yields for Upland cotton on July 3, 2024, and approved insurance providers have begun sending out final indemnity payments to Upland cotton producers who purchased 2023 crop year Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) policy endorsements.
For most of Texas, drought and below average yields were the common theme in 2023, and producers who purchased or STAX — as a supplement to their regular multi-peril crop insurance purchase — will see indemnity payments triggered in almost every Texas county where those policies are available.
Looking specifically at STAX in PCG’s service area, every county in the region triggered indemnities on both irrigated and non-irrigated cotton. It is no surprise that each of the 41 STAX-eligible counties triggered the maximum possible payment rate under the 2023-crop policy for non-irrigated.
Irrigated was a slightly different story as STAX losses varied across the PCG area. While a majority (32 out of 41) of PCG’s counties triggered the maximum possible STAX payment on irrigated acres, the final irrigated yield per planted acre reported by RMA in nine counties (Armstrong, Crosby, Floyd, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Lubbock, Lynn and Motley) resulted in less than maximum payment rates for irrigated cotton.
The table above shows final 2023 yields and STAX payment rates in the PCG region. It should be noted that an additional indemnity payment may be added to these amounts for producers who purchased the Cottonseed Endorsement with their STAX policy in 2023. Click the image to download the PDF.
STAX payment rates in the rest of Texas followed a similar pattern with indemnities triggered on at least one practice in all but three counties statewide. Those three counties (Culberson, El Paso and Hudspeth) are all located in the Trans-Pecos region where STAX is available only for irrigated cotton.
Seven other Texas counties triggered STAX payments on only one practice. Five of those counties (Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Starr, Willacy and Zapata) are in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and triggered STAX payments on irrigated acres only. The other two counties (Victoria County in South Texas and Caldwell County in the Blacklands region) triggered STAX payments only on non-irrigated acres.