LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The cotton landscape has seen its ups and downs in recent seasons and Kody Bessent, CEO of Plains Cotton Growers, says 2025 continued that roller coaster trend.
“We’ve had a better production year than we’ve seen in the last couple years, which is positive,” Bessent said. “Unfortunately, we’re still being succumb to prices that are way below cost of production, input costs that are superseding the cost of production.”
If there’s one thing the recent snow provided West Texas, it’s some much needed moisture. Bessent says the rule of thumb is typically 10 inches of snow will accumulate to one inch of rainfall. With Lubbock receiving just under seven inches of snowfall, that liquid looks to bring producers some positivity as they start 2026.
“We’ll be able to bank that in the soil is the best way to put it,” Bessent said. “We’ll be able to utilize that as folks start doing cultivation or looking at their other agronomic practices. Helping cover crops really materialize going into march and April and then whenever we physically start planting a crop, hopefully we’ll have some additional rainfall and some other moisture related conditions to help us really kind of pivot and start off a new crop year.”
Bessent says another key for cotton producers is the kind of snow we saw in West Texas, as it creates more favorable land conditions for the crop.
“It placates the land,” Bessent said. “It goes back down into the soil a little easier than a hard snow or a dry snow so we can utilize that moisture a little better.”
This amount of moisture will not get the cotton crop over the hill on its own, but Bessent says it’s a great step in the right direction. He’s also optimistic about the 2026 crop year, but says time will tell if the recent trend will continue, or if we see more positives in the near future.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re going into it with a steady pace,” Bessent said, “and ideally looking at the conditions that we have to control, and that is our growing conditions.”
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