U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 14.5 million cotton acres this spring, up 2.9 percent from 2018, according to the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) 38th annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey.
Upland cotton intentions are 14.2 million acres, up 2.8 percent from 2018, while extra-long staple intentions of 264,000 acres represent a 6.3 percent increase. The survey results were announced over the weekend at the NCC’s 2019 annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
NCC’s Jody Campiche says history shows that “U.S. farmers respond to relative prices when making planting decisions.” For the 2019 crop year, many producers have indicated a desire to reduce soybean acres due to low returns in 2018. As a result, corn is expected to provide the strongest competition for cotton acres in 2019, according to Campiche.
The NCC questionnaire, mailed in mid-December 2018 to producers across the 17-state Cotton Belt, asked producers for the number of acres devoted to cotton and other crops in 2018 and the acres planned for the coming season. Survey responses were collected through mid-January.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasters