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Cotton is an important cash crop in South Texas. Cotton generally provides more cash revenue than grain sorghum or corn, but it also a risky crop due to uncertain weather effects, uncertain yields and lint quality, and uncertain production costs, especially pest control costs. Cotton is also important from an economic development viewpoint since it requires more inputs (chemicals, fertilizer, labor, equipment) and more processing (ginning to remove the lint from the seed) than other row crops.
Since cotton generally requires more chemical-type inputs, more labor, and more capital investment than other row crops, it is important to deliberately manage variable and fixed costs in cotton production. A basic approach to this involves keeping good records and creating useful financial statements to evaluate and manage the performance of a cotton enterprise.
The 2001 season cotton crop is wrapping up with the July/August harvest season. The main production issues during the fall are destruction of the previous year's cotton stalks (to control next year's insect pests), land preparation for the Spring 2002 planting season, capital investment or disinvestment decisions, and ultimately the next season's planting choices. One example of an investment/disinvestment decision would be adopting a reduced tillage system for cotton. South Texas farmers will begin planting next year's cotton in late February (parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley) and early March (rest of LRGV and Coastal Bend).
Q. How many acres of cotton are produced in my county or region?
Q. How much does it cost to grow cotton?
Q. Should I plant more or less cotton next year? (Link to a new article about planting decisions)
Q. What insurance products are available for cotton? (Link to new article about crop insurance)
Q. How much will it cost to convert my operation to reduced tillage? (link to new article)
Q. Can I afford to make this input application when cotton prices are so low?
Q. When should I stop late-season spraying of cotton?
Q. How can I minimize harvesting costs?
The Cotton Economics Research program at Texas Tech has both production and marketing information of interest.
Texas A&M Extension Soil and Crop Sciences has numerous publications on agronomic aspects of cotton production.
The Risk Management Curriculum Guide describes the impact of marketing strategies, price risk, production risk, financial risk, budgeting, and government policy on the financial performance of agricultural enterprises.