Hurricane Harvey left a lasting impact on South Texas and affected the cotton industry in the state right before harvest time. The prices of cotton were most affected by Hurricane Harvey. Cotton growers on the South Plains said it’s hard to plan for the harvest and future seasons when the prices keep changing.
“We had an opportunity last week with prices going up because of Harvey and hopefully a farmer took advantage of that and locked in some of those prices,” said cotton farmer, Jeremy Brown.
Cotton prices jumped after the condition of the cotton crop in south Texas was unknown after Hurricane Harvey. But most cotton in the south either survived or was already harvested. Prices already lowered back to normal levels so few farmers on the South Plains were able to take advantage of those higher prices.
“The run up in price we saw is pretty temporary, so the opportunity to contract was pretty narrow,” said a TTU Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics professor, Dr. Darren Hudson. “My guess is that a lot of producers didn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of that.”
But the real problem is the rapid change in cotton prices, making it harder for cotton growers to plan for future seasons.
“The volatility is problematic from the standpoint that it does affect your planning,” said Hudson. “You don’t really know where you’re going to be and at this time of the year, probably causes some stress because you’re worried about that price moving down.”
Cotton growers said the most important thing to do right now is focus on the harvest which is expected to bring a good crop.