LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock area farmers are racing the clock to finish planting their cotton by Friday. The crop insurance deadline has already passed for some counties in the region.
Conner Watts, a producer outside of Slaton, took a quick break to speak about the outlook for this season. While many farmers are getting out of the business, this is only Watts’ second planting season on his own land.
“Well, I guess I’m just hard-headed,” Watts said.
The first-generation farmer has been working in production agriculture since 2019. He knows how challenging this career has been for West Texans.
“But luckily, this year, the markets have kind of turned, and basically all the commodities,” Watts said. “And so, we have a favorable weather forecast, so hopefully this year, we can get a good price for a crop, and maybe have a bumper crop, as well.”
Watts said the recent rains have been especially beneficial for dryland and low irrigation fields.
“We caught one really good rain a couple weeks ago, and we’ve also had some scattered showers,” Watts said. “If you look at the long-range forecast, it looks like we’re going into a Super El Nino. And so, that typically means favorable weather patterns for us in the late summer and fall. And really, the late summer is when we really need it to break out and make a bumper crop.”
This weekend’s moisture wasn’t enough to keep producers from getting out to finish planting.
On the market side, Watts said cotton futures have gone from mid-to-high 60s at the start of the year to almost breaking 90 a few weeks ago.
“And so, right now, I think we’re sitting around 80 cents,” Watts said. “But, you know, as more USDA plant reports come out, and intended planting acreage comes out, the market should settle out, and hopefully it keeps going on a run.”
When it comes to input costs, Watts said the Iranian war has caused fertilizer to jump.
“Luckily for us, we’ve had our fertilizer booked earlier in the year, so we haven’t been just too terribly affected,” Watts said. “If we need some extra later on, we’re definitely going to have to pay for it.”
He said diesel prices went up as soon as they needed it and have nearly doubled since January.
“I guess fuel prices will be a concern for this upcoming summer, and especially if we get into harvest,” Watts said. “But hopefully, the Iranian war will be settled by that time, and fuel prices will stabilize.”
From the forecast to futures, Watts said overall this season, “Everything’s looking up, and really, we were coming from the bottom, so it was only up from there, truthfully.”
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