US South Loses LRGV Cotton To Hurricane
29 July 2008 Hurricane Dolly, which struck the Gulf coast of the US last week, has destroyed almost all 91,000 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) cotton crop.
"I expect 100% loss," said Webb Wallace, executive director, Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. "Late-planted cotton with unopened bolls might make some cotton," he said, "but that’s less than 1% of the crop." Much of the area is still under water several days after the category two hurricane, which makes even the 1% prediction uncertain. The rest may suffer water damage. "We’ll know more in ten days or so, after we can get in and see what’s left," said Sam Simmons, association president. "Some of it may fluff up and some may not. A lot of plants lost leaves. It’s a devastating loss overall," he said, and estimated less than 2,000 bales of Lower Rio Grande Valley cotton "is off the stalk."
David Fields, CEO of Gulf Compress, with facilities up the Gulf Coast in Corpus Christi and one in the Valley in Raymondville, expects to see little or no cotton coming out of the LRGV.
"It’s a mess," he said. "Farmers had just started harvest and we had about 100 bales in at Raymondville. Dryland cotton will be zeroed out. I’ve talked to several farmers who indicate dryland production will be zero and some say they see a little cotton in places, but most of that is still in 6 inches to 8 inches of standing water."
Fields expected early on to get 50,000 bales of cotton from the Valley. "After the July rain I figured 40,000. Now I hope to get 10,000."
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