The 1997 Cotton Crop

Keith L. Edmisten, Cotton Extension Specialist
A. M. Stewart, Graduate Research Assistant
(CCN-98-3A - March, 1998)

The majority of the 1997 cotton crop in North Carolina has been harvested, ginned and classes. At this point (Feb12, 1998) 910,234 bales have been classed.. This puts our yield at about 684 pounds per harvested acre produced on about 665,000 harvested acres. From all indications, cotton acreage in North Carolina in 1998 will probably be down a little. Predictions are as high as a 9% reduction in acreage. Cotton prices are the major reason for this predicted decline in acreage.

This year in North Carolina we had the potential for a disaster crop. I don't think anyone knows how we pulled this crop out of the environmental conditions we were dealt. The cool weather early in the season delayed cotton. In many areas cotton did not come up until early to mid June because of dry soils. Many parts of the state remained dry through a majority of the season. The northern counties were especially hard hit by drought. Somehow the cotton plant managed to surprise everyone and yields were generally higher than anyone predicted. Certainly warm weather in September and early October helped the crop.

The classing of the 1997 crop was a mixed bag. We had a higher than average percent of bales that were classed as 41 or better and less bales classed as light spot (32, 42 or 52). However, 10.2 percent of the bales were classed as 51 in 1997. This is unusually high for us. Grades decreased beginning around the middle of October. We never really got a lot of sunshine to bleach cotton and improve grades later in the harvest season.

Micronaire (mike) was higher than average but not as high as the drought years of 1993 and 1995. We had the lowest staple we have seen in the 90's. We had quit a high amount of bales classed as high mike and low staple which is unusual. Staple (fiber length) is determined in the early half of boll development. Stress during this period probably contributed to low staple. Micronaire is formed during the later stages of boll development. The dry weather caused the shedding of younger bolls with lower mike. The lateness of the crop probably contributed to the high mike as in some fields younger bolls did not mature and were not harvested.

Strength and Uniformity were pretty average. We continued to improve on grassy bales with only 3% of the bales classed as grassy in 1997. This is less than half the average for the 90's. Growers are to be commended for this improvement. Alan York certainly deserves major credit for this improvement. The number of bales classed as having bark was also lower than the average for the 90's. This is surprising given the ultra narrow row cotton grown in the state this year.

Below is a chart that indicates how the 1997 crop compares to the previous 5 crops. The classing data includes NC, SC and VA.

Table 1. Classing of the NC, SC and Virginia cotton crops in the 1990's.

* 10.2% of the bales in 1997 were classed as 51.