Kings Co Falls Most
July 13,2018-
CDFA’s Pink Bollworm Program has released their state estimate of cotton plantings this year. Cotton mapping for the San Joaquin Valley was completed as of Wednesday, June 13. The current total mapped acreage is 243,918 acres (down from 283,390 acres in 2017).
The breakdown of cotton acreage is 69,165 acres in Fresno County (down from 75,055 acres in 2017), 23,655 acres in Kern County (down from 30,695 acres in 2017), 90,400 acres in Kings County (down from 110,100 acres in 2017), 950 acres in Madera County (up from 850 acres in 2017), 41,850 acres in Merced County (down from 45,860 acres in 2017), and 17,805 acres in Tulare County (down from 20,830 acres in 2017). In San Joaquin County 93 acres have been reported, but are yet unconfirmed by Pink Bollworm Program personnel.
Cotton acreage has been on a steady decline in California since the 1980s when it reached 1.6 million acres. After falling to about 200,000 acres it has ramped up a bit in recent years to 243,000 acres expected in 2018.