The History And Prospect Of California'S Cotton Production In The United States

Historical review

The planting area of Pima cotton has grown from the initial acres to 275 thousand acres in 2006.

Due to the influence of many factors, the production of Pima cotton is fluctuating, and the growers are constantly joining and exiting, and the planting area is fluctuating.

Since the production season of Pima cotton is a little special, and if it is not possible to sow in from April 10th to 15th due to weather, many cotton farmers will turn to upland cotton.

The annual price of cotton is also an important factor that affects growers' decision making. If futures hedging is not hedged, long-term contracts will become more difficult, especially when loans are made.

Others, such as the yield per horse cotton and upland cotton, the price of other competitive cash crops, and the geographical location within the SJV area are all important factors affecting the planting area of cotton.

For example, the yield per horse cotton is 10% to 15% lower than that of upland cotton.

And on some parts of SJV, the production of cotton is not ideal for several years. Then it will stop planting it.

One of the disadvantages of planting Pima is that more and more facts prove that there is no technical feature of cost saving than horse cotton variety except Round-Up Ready.

So in 2010, we will plant Round-Up Ready Flex Pima for the first time.

As for infrastructure, as the area grows, we are equipped.

For a time cotton became the number one crop in California.

In 1979, cotton sowing area once reached 16 million acres.

In 1963, there were 299 gin sets in California.

However, due to many factors, great changes have taken place in the past few years. In the past 10-12 years, this pformation has been more and more rapid.

In 1997, the cotton planting area reached 1 million acres in the last year, of which 17% or 184 thousand acres were more than cotton.

But last year, our cotton planting area was the lowest level since 1920, only 190 thousand acres, of which 62% or 118 thousand acres were on cotton.

In 1997, we had a total of 101 gin sets in California, including 17 leather roller ginning machines.

Last year, we had only 34 units, including 15 rolls and 15 leather roller embossing production lines, the other 6 were composite, that is to say, we could only operate 28 devices.

Why is there such a big change? Because the diversity of agricultural production in California provides many options for growers, and competition becomes more intense as the scope of choice expands.

Sometimes cotton has better economic returns, but sometimes it is not.

As more and more land is planted in different ways, a large number of cotton areas are permanently occupied by other crops or at least for a longer period of time.

In the 25 year rotation period, there is no cotton!

The expansion of the city has forced many dairy farms to migrate to SJV.

The "invasion" of the dairy farm has again taken away thousands of acres of cotton area.

In addition, the historical legacy of severe water shortage eventually broke out and had a serious impact on cotton production in the past few years, especially in a major production area of Pima cotton.

So we have seen the top, and we hope to see the bottom from this year.

I feel that cotton will again be a cause for concern.

Our early prediction is that cotton production in 2010 will reach 350 thousand acres, of which 225 thousand mu is more than cotton.

Higher cotton prices and weaker competition crop prices and dairy products will help people reconsider planting cotton.

But unfortunately, this enthusiastic idea will be affected by the complicated weather this year.

According to our experience over the years and some of our predecessors, this year is probably the worst weather condition.

When we began sowing in the middle of March, it began to rain in early April and then cooled down. Then the temperature rose, followed by more rain, the temperature dropped again, and then another round of warmer temperatures.

There were at least three weeks in April, and experienced such repeated cycles every week until the end of April.

Many cotton farmers' planting intentions have not been affected, but many cotton growers have replaced upland cotton instead of Pima cotton because of the delay of sowing date.

At present, the latest prediction is that the total cotton area in California in 2010 is 303 thousand acres, of which the area of the horse cotton is expected to be 170 thousand acres.

It is estimated that nearly 60-70% of this year's cotton variety is RR Flex Pima.

So, although we are glad to see that people are beginning to lean towards cotton, we are still disappointed because we think the trend would be stronger at that time.

Now, the challenge we have to face is how to increase the single production in the case of postponing sowing, and from the previous experience, the situation of late maturity will affect single production.

Therefore, we will do everything we can to help cotton farmers achieve the best management decisions through cooperative service promotion.

Today, our greatest wish is to have a good growing season, and the autumn harvest will be longer, especially in contrast to Malay.

One of the real concerns of the industry is that the planting area is being seriously reduced. During this period, the maintenance of basic production can meet the needs of the industry. When will this phenomenon improve?

Luckily, cottonseed prices have risen with the price of other commodities in the past few years, so even if the production is down, the days of the ginning plants are good.

At one point, when the price of cottonseed reached a new high, the record of the ginning mill's shipment also reached a new high, though the output was not high.

Although we can see that some ginning plants are closed or merged, we have a good foundation to provide services for the recovery of cotton production in California.

Over the past few years, with the popularity of roller cotton, some years have even reached 40% to 50% of the total amount of upland cotton, and the number of roller roller has increased.

I realized that cotton production in California tended to be centralized and specialized in the market many years ago.

Pima is undoubtedly a large part of it. We are proud of it. After years of operation, California's cotton production has exceeded 90% of the total output of the United States.

Supima as a grower, a nonprofit organization for the promotion of the United States' Pima cotton industry, has done a lot of work to expand the popularity of the United States' Cotton Brand in the name of Supima.

There are more than 350 labels in the world, using the Supima tag in high-end yarn, and from home textiles to high fashion and many other textiles. Today, we feel particularly excited and excited in California, because more than 90% of Supima cotton is produced in California.

Now, as demand rises and cotton is almost sold out, we are very optimistic about the situation at the end.

Finally, I would like to mention the issue of California's water crisis which many people have mentioned or published.

According to rainfall and snow cover, we should have a better water year, but we are still trying to solve the problem of water shortage.

Unfortunately, because of the late announcement of the increase in cotton subsidies this year, some cotton growers have made some decisions about cotton planting.

However, I anticipate that good expectations for this year's supply and good expectations for next year's turnover will be a good omen for cotton planting next year.

For the cotton industry in California, it will still be an important part in the future.