Cotton farming is a crucial part of our regional economy and today is crucial day for their crops.
Shawn Wade, Director of Policy Analysis and Research for Plains Cotton Growers, expressed, “This time of year, it’s a really complicated time for producers. They’re working very hard to try and get their crops planted by several different planting dates that we have for an insurance purpose.”
This means that if farmers in the central tier of counties want full coverage then their crops need to be planted by June 5th.
Wade explained, “Our Southern area, that date is actually June the 10th, so they still have about five days. We’re talking about the folks in Lynn, Terry, Dawson, Gaines. Some of those more dry land areas down south of us still have about five days to finish up their planting activities.”
If farmers didn’t meet that deadline then they run the risk of reduced insurance coverage for their crops.
Wade told us, “We do have this seven day period after the final planting day, between June 5th and 12th for this central tier of counties that would include, you know, Lubbock, Hockley, Crosby for example.”
This means for the next week farmers can still plant but their insurance coverage will go down every day. Regardless, Wade said at this point a farmer’s best bet is to get their seed in the ground and hope for more rain.
Wade explained, “Depends on what the forecast holds over the next few days whether or not we’re going to get that but it looks pretty promising that we will see some scattered showers and thunderstorms just like we did after the last few days and hopefully we can fill in some of the holes that we have right now. “
