Cotton growers are headed for the largest cotton harvest in 12 years, said USDA’s monthly crop report, although officials acknowledged they don’t have a full picture of damage from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which struck much of the Cotton Belt. The USDA said it would conduct special surveys in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina to assess how much of the cotton, rice, peanut and soybean crops were harvested.
Based on conditions on Sept. 1, the USDA estimated the cotton crop at 21.76 million bales weighing 480 pounds each. It would be the largest crop since the record 23.89 million bales of 2005 and the third-largest crop ever, aided by a record yield of 908 pounds per acre and larger-than-expected plantings.
“Many crops have been significantly impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the subsequent flooding,” said USDA in announcing it would collect harvested-acreage information in seven states – Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Texas and Georgia are the two largest U.S. cotton states.
Cotton prices fell by the maximum amount allowed in one day at the New York futures exchange, said Agrimoney, pointing to USDA’s forecasts of a large U.S. crop – 6 percent larger than forecast a month ago – and the largest global cotton crop in five years.
Harvey came ashore while USDA was spot-checking fields and interviewing growers about crop prospects. “As a result, data collection activities…were impacted in these areas (Texas and Louisiana) and the full impact of this weather event may not be fully reflected in this report,” said USDA. Farmers in Texas, however, have talked about big cotton losses from Hurricane Harvey. Irma swept onto Florida too late for USDA to gauge its impact. The October crop report will be USDA’s first chance to factor the cyclones into its estimates of upland cotton, peanuts, soybeans, rice, corn, sorghum, sugarcane and hay.
In the September crop report, USDA raised its forecast of a record soybean crop to 4.43 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the August estimate and 3 percent bigger than the mark set in 2016. It also forecast a record peanut crop of 7.78 billion pounds, up 5 percent from August and 37 percent larger than last year’s crop. Record peanut crops were forecast for Georgia and South Carolina.