California cotton plantings once covered more than 1 million acres annually, producing a crop worth more than $1 billion a year to the California agriculture economy. But by 2020, according to National Ag Statistics, cotton acreage in California was down to about 246,000. Tree crops, vines, alfalfa and corn replaced the acreage that used to be dedicated to cotton as the availability and price of water were an issue.
But last year the spring rain deluge led to a record low cotton crop -well under 100,000 acres. Now that the Tulare Lakebed has dried out and farmers have returned to their fields. California Cotton Growers exec Roger Isom expects the harvest will be around 164,000 acres this year. “It would have been more but the state did not give us a full allocation” although he is happy acres have bounded back.
In 2023 California saw just 85,000 acres compared to 115,00acres in 2022.Kings farmers harvested just 33,000 acres in a county where cotton was once king. Once a big crop in Tulare County cotton was planted on just 1500 acres.There were 30,799 acres in Fresno County (down from 34,290 acres in 2022), 7,226 acres in Kern County (down from 9,591 acres in 2022.
Just how the 164,000 acre estimate in 2024 -double what we had in 2023 – breaks down between Upland and Pima varieties is not yet released by the state Pink Bollworm program but most of it will be in long staple Pima, favored by the mills.
Kings County acreage could top 50,000 this year.
On the price front, Isom is less bullish with “guys getting just about $1.25 for their pima” and lackluster demand from China facing trouble in their economy.
Upland cotton, more widespread across the South, is fetching just $0.69 a pound after pricing closer to $1.00 this spring.It jumped to $1.40 in Spring 2022.
USDA’s Planted Acres report issued on June 28 showed that U.S. cotton growers planted an estimated 11.7 million acres of upland and Pima cotton in 2024 – up 14% from 2023.
For 2024, Upland area is estimated at 11.5 million acres, a 14% increase from last year. American Pima plantings are estimated at 182,000 acres, up 24% from 2022.
UC photo