-September 24,2020-
Kings cotton acreage declines – industry asks for help
Kings County is still ‘King of Cotton’ but the crown is not so shiny this year. Final numbers for the 2020 season show the state with a decline of 28% in Pima acreage and a 27% decrease in upland acreage as compared to 2019.
The state pink bollworm program pegs 2020 plantings for the California Pima crop at 145,840 acres and upland at 41,187 acres for a total of 187,027 acres statewide.
Kings County continues to lead the state with combined plantings of 86,785 acres in 2019. Kings Pima acres this year stand at 77,170 – down from 98,511 in 2019 and 91,720 in 2018.That is about a 20% drop from the high.
USDA pegs the average price for SJV cotton by year at 55 cents for 2019, 68 cents in 2018 and 74 cents in 2017, all heading in the wrong direction.
Faced with hard times California Cotton Growers Association has pleaded this month for help from USDA but said it was not forthcoming.
“President/CEO Roger Isom stated “The failure by USDA to recognize the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on the ELS(extra long staple) cotton industry is mind numbing. Our prices have dropped and cotton is not moving.” They add that The ELS cotton industry and the Association is now turning to Congress to see what relief may come in the next COVID-19 aid package.
Kingsburg T-Mobile Call Center makes slow progress
A T-Mobile call center planned for Kingsburg is still making progress says Jolene Polyack, city spokesperson.The city is letting the company make any announcement but they could locate in an existing building – sources say they are negotiating for the empty K-Mart – or build a new facility, she says. Don’t look for the call center to open this year, she predicts. “It is more likely in late 2021 or even the 1st quarter of 2022” she adds.As part of T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion merger with Sprint the cell phone company promised to create 1,000 full-time jobs in the state and picked Kingsburg.
Kingsburg getting a Grocery Outlet
Discount store Grocery Outlet is building a new 17,800sf store in Kingsburg says the city’s economic development manager Jolene Polyack. The location is Sierra at Simpson. It will be the town’s third grocer.
Assimi Bros launch new plan for pistachio plant on Kamm Ave
It is round-two for a proposed major pistachio processing project on Kamm Ave in western Fresno County owned by the Assemi Bros and partners. The last time they tried rival grower Wonderful filed a lawsuit claiming a lack of proper environmental studies by the county. The project was halted in January. The two sides are also in court inTulare County over a different facility. Now a new public notice was filed in recent days that the planned 130,000sf plant will undergo a new impact report overseen by Fresno County.The project features 49 storage silos and will employ 120 workers at peak.
Construction index up
Kings County is considering raising fees based on the state construction index. The change in the Engineering News-Record Construction Cost Index shows a 3.58% increase for 2019. The indices are an average for San Francisco and Los Angeles. By comparison the 2018 index was up 1.3%.
New COVID cases head lower
New cases of COVID appear to be heading lower in Kings and Tulare Counties as well as statewide in mid-September. Kings County’s weekly average is down 46% from the previous week and California is down 26%. New cases here at state prisons as well as rest homes are down.But Avenal SP still suffered 192 new cases in the past 14 days while Corcoran SP had just 5.
