By Clint Thompson
Cotton harvests are well under way across Georgia. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop progress report, released on Monday, Oct. 26, 33% of the crop had been harvested, up from 26% the prior week.
Taylor Sills, executive director of the Georgia Cotton Commission, was at last week’s Sunbelt Ag Expo and discussed what he has been hearing from growers who are in the process of picking this year’s crop.
“It’s a mixed bag. There’s good cotton, and there’s poor cotton,” Sills said. “This year, 2026, has been a year of extremes. We have been through a lot; wet at the wrong times, dry at the wrong times, deluge of rain right at the start of harvest. I think it’s going to be kind of all over the board across the state this year. But we’ve made it this far and that’s good.”
The possibility is also there for producers to be harvesting later in the year than normal, especially with those who had to replant earlier in the summer.
“I would say that the extreme high heat that we had in August and July and periods probably advanced the cotton a little longer along than you might have thought. That’s what I hear from our specialists with UGA, the UGA Extension cotton team. We’re very grateful to work with that group of people that are so dedicated to the industry and our producers across the state,” Sills said.