The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct four Cotton Risk Management Workshops in coming weeks.

The four workshops have similar agendas and will be held:

— Feb. 27, 1:30-5 p.m., at the Rowena SPJST Lodge in Rowena, 709 Concho Rd. in Rowena.

— March 1, 8:30 a.m.-noon at the Capital Farm Credit Board Room, 122 W. McHarg St. in Stamford.  

— March 8, 8:30 a.m.-noon at the Roscoe Independent School District STEM Center, 12822 N. Interstate 20 in Roscoe.

— March 8, 1:30-5 p.m. at the G.C. Broughton, Jr. Agriculture Complex, 2411 Echols St. in Big Spring.

Individual registration for each workshop is $10, due upon arrival. Capital Farm Credit is sponsoring all three workshops, including complimentary lunches at the Stamford and Roscoe workshops.  

“Corn and grain sorghum markets are depressed and the 2017 wheat crop is projected to be the smallest since 1909,” said Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist in San Angelo. “Cotton prices in comparison are showing relative strength, so we are expecting an increase in cotton acres here in West Texas by as much as 15 percent to 25 percent.”

Thompson said the workshops are intended to make producers aware of ways to reduce risk, especially if a larger-than-normal percentage of crop acres are planted with cotton.

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“We don’t want to see an ‘all your eggs in one basket’ scenario go bad without some risk management factors in place, so that’s our goal here, to help producers know and weigh their options,” he said.

AGENDA

Topics to be discussed include:

— Cost of production.

— Marketing strategies; will increased cotton acres affect U.S. prices?

— Hedging strategies.

— Crop insurance considerations.

— Discussion of Price Loss Coverage; lack of payments due to cotton being planted on generic base acres.

For more information, contact the AgriLife Extension agents in the corresponding counties:

— Runnels County, Garrett Cline, 325-365-5042, [email protected] .

— Jones County, Steve Estes, 325-823-2432, [email protected] .

— Nolan County, Zach Wilcox, 325-235-3184, [email protected] .

— Howard County, Tommy Yeater, 432-264-2236, [email protected] .