Farm Press recently visited the Texas Rolling Plains to see how cotton production is progressing on the farms of Richard and Judy Gaona and Jeff and Phiny Posey.
North of Roby, the Posey's discussed their dryland and drip-irrigated cotton, along with their bumper wheat yields -- 75 bushels an acre. They also mentioned their experimental corn crop.
"But cotton is our number one cash crop in this area," Jeff said, who also serves as chairman of The Cotton Board.
See, A tornado, COVID-19, tariffs, low prices, don't deter Chairman Posey
Jeff described the 2020 cotton crop in Fisher County as "all over the board. Some crops are good, some crops are bad and some are being destroyed at this time."
South of Roby, the Gaona's discussed their skip row cotton and how within the same field, their cotton is at different growth stages. Some of the cotton emerged after it was planted, Richard explained, while some of the plants did not appear until after a rain.
"We thought we had enough moisture to get this cotton crop up," Richard said. "But apparently we didn't."
Richard, who is the chairman of the Rolling Plains Cotton Growers, also addressed issues facing growers in 2020 from financing to prices to government programs.
Government programs are helpful, he said, "But it's a bandaid. It's not a fix. It will help us until next year, but what happens after that?"
To take the Texas Rolling Plains cotton crop to harvest, Posey and Gaona agree rainfall is a must.
Watch the video above to hear more from their interview.
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