Farm Progress

“There’s certainly some optimism about crop prospects now that we’re getting a pretty decent October,” says Texas AgriLife Extension Cotton Specialist Seth Byrd at Lubbock. “So, whether it’s maturing bolls or taking advantage of the weather to apply harvest aids, that’s the kind of opportunity that presents itself with good weather.”

Shelley E. Huguley, Editor

October 20, 2017

10 Slides

Cool, cloudy and wet weather combined to delay cotton maturity for the Texas Plains cotton crop.

“The big question is, what has this done to the ultimate maturity in the quality of the crop, especially in our northern territories,” says Steve Verett, Plains Cotton Growers executive vice president. “Especially, what’s going to be the effect on micronaire?” Micronaire is a vital measurement in determining how easily cotton fiber can be processed, and a primary factor in determining potential quality.

Another risk to quality this year, says Seth Byrd, is hardlock bolls. “We’ve seen this in years past, but certainly much more this year.” The reasons for the increase in hardlock bolls is twofold, he says: disease pressure that has been greatly increased this year by the wet, cloudy conditions, and weather in general — high humidity, rain, and cloudiness.

Recent forecasts call for warmer temperatures and more open conditions. Producers are preparing to apply or initiating  harvest aid applications and getting ready to move harvesters in the field. That's when they will know how much, if any, damage resulted from the cool, wet fall.

Here are a few photos showing how the crop is progressing.

 

 

 

About the Author(s)

Shelley E. Huguley

Editor, Southwest Farm Press

Shelley Huguley has been involved in agriculture for the last 25 years. She began her career in agricultural communications at the Texas Forest Service West Texas Nursery in Lubbock, where she developed and produced the Windbreak Quarterly, a newspaper about windbreak trees and their benefit to wildlife, production agriculture and livestock operations. While with the Forest Service she also served as an information officer and team leader on fires during the 1998 fire season and later produced the Firebrands newsletter that was distributed quarterly throughout Texas to Volunteer Fire Departments. Her most personal involvement in agriculture also came in 1998, when she married the love of her life and cotton farmer Preston Huguley of Olton, Texas. As a farmwife, she knows first-hand the ups and downs of farming, the endless decisions made each season based on “if” it rains, “if” the drought continues, “if” the market holds. She is the bookkeeper for their family farming operation and cherishes moments on the farm such as taking harvest meals to the field or starting a sprinkler in the summer with the whole family lending a hand. Shelley has also freelanced for agricultural companies such as Olton CO-OP Gin, producing the newsletter Cotton Connections while also designing marketing materials to promote the gin. She has published articles in agricultural publications such as Southwest Farm Press while also volunteering her marketing and writing skills to non-profit organizations such as Refuge Services, an equine-assisted therapy group in Lubbock. She and her husband reside in Olton with their three children Breely, Brennon and HalleeKate.

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