Cotton harvest finally under way in county
By BRENDA SOMMER news1@leader-news.com

L-N File Photo Picking, No Grinning The cotton harvest in Wharton County is finally under way, but yields and quality aren't what farmers were hoping for before the summer deluges.

The high yields, prices and quality that characterized this year's corn crop aren't being seen in cotton, which after a rain delayed growing season, is at last being harvested in Wharton County.

On both sides of the Colorado River, farmers have begun bringing in cotton, which along with sorghum and corn had harvest delayed for weeks by nonstop rains.

Soaking showers began in late June and continued throughout July, destroying what initially appeared to be a potentially record crop of sorghum, and the sunless days damaged the cotton crop.

Cotton needs plenty of sunshine to produce a crop, but the rains caused the plants to shed flowers and bolls, and instead grow into big green bushes that had to start blooming all over again.

"The quality and yield aren't what we'd hoped for," said Bob Wilkins, general manager at Danevang Farmers Cooperative. "It's borderline disaster, I would say. Some is a bit better than that, but overall, it's not a good thing."

East Bernard farmer Brian Hlavinka said cotton in his area "looks pretty good, considering."

"There's lots of good top crop because last month hasn't been that bad, but you really don't have a good bottom crop," he said. "But saying that, the cotton's probably going to be a bit better than everyone's expected. From a bale to two bales (per acre), and probably a lot in that bale-and-a-quarter, bale-and-three-quarters range." bale-and-three-quarters range."

In an average year, yielding a bale and a half per acre of cotton in Wharton County is considered a passable crop, but last year, many farmers here had yields of 2.5 to as high as 4 bales per acre.

In 2005 - a drought year - Wharton County farmers averaged 1.35 bales per acre. In 2004, that number was 1.59, while it was a poor 1.17 in 2003 and a healthy 1.78 in 2002, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics based on 460 pounds per bale.

Jimmy Roppolo, Farmers Co-op of El Campo general manager, said cotton brought to his facility's two gins so far is "fair."

"It's not great, but it's fair," Roppolo said. "We have to get further along in the harvest before I know more. It's going be about an average crop, nothing exciting."

Countywide, it appears corn was the real winner this year, making the most of the rains while being little harmed by them.

"Corn was excellent," Wilkins said. "Prices are good and the yields were exceptionally good. So there is a bright side."

FCEC's Roppolo concurred with that assessment.

"Corn turned out ferocious," he said. "It was great. The rain did not hurt it, the quality was good, aflatoxin was good, it was just real good corn."

"That was probably the shining light of this year," Hlavinka said. "It was a really good crop and the price was right."

Overall, Roppolo said the year so far for county row crop farmers has been tough.

"Sorghum was a disaster, cotton is average and I would say corn is excellent," he said. "I'd say this is a bad year for most of our producers, with the cost of production so high … Everybody thought $4 corn was going to be a phenomenal deal, but there's just not that much profit in it."