Drought killing output at local cotton, corn farms

By Dawn Treglown

CENTRE — The water level in Weiss Lake isn't the only part of the environment affected by this year's unprecedented drought conditions. Farm land in Cherokee County, usually flush with cotton bolls and corn stalks this time of year, has mostly wasted away in the brutal heat and dry weather.

Cotton crops in Cherokee County especially suffered this year, yielding very little cotton. David Derrick, regional extension agent for the Northeast Alabama Region, said Cherokee County farmers planted around 15,000 acres of cotton this year.

“For most farmers, it probably costs about $400 per acre to grow a cotton crop. Some fields will yield between 200 and 300 pounds per acre, depending on where it rained. A lot may yield 400 pounds,” Derrick said. “With cotton selling around 60 cents a pound, that's $240 per acre -- $160 short per acre.”

He added that most farmers probably would not even get that much money per acre of cotton because the cotton quality during dry weather is not very good.

Cherokee Gin and Cotton Co. in Centre just rolled off their first bale of cotton of the season last week.

“This has been a real difficult year,” said co-owner Richard Lindsey. ”We've been in a drought for well over 12 months.”

Lindsey agreed that cotton yields were very low for farmers in the region.

“Some farmers are seeing about a half-bale per acre, and I would call a bale and a half average,” he said. “Last year was not a good year, and we saw close to a bale per acre.”

Lindsey said what that means is farmers and ginners are losing money.

“We can't survive at these levels,” he said. “We're going to be in the red this year.”

Scott Curry, owner of Ellis Brothers Gin in Centre, said his business has also suffered.

“This is a 'get by' year,” he said. “We're going to do good to break even.”

He said cotton crops suffered a lot this year due to the lack of a top crop.

“You've got a top crop and a bottom crop on the cotton plant,” Curry said. “We would have had an excellent top crop this year, but there was no rain in July. When it gets dry, the square is kicked off the top crop and you have no cotton.” The square is the “bud” of the cotton bole, he explained.

“This is the worst I've seen it since I've been in the cotton business. It's probably one of the worst years anybody has seen,” Curry said.

Less cotton was planted this year because corn and soybeans were selling at higher prices. However, those crops have also suffered.

“Soybean yields are close to 15 bushels an acre, and an average crop would be 30 or more,” Derrick said.

He said most corn farmers are harvesting between 40 and 50 bushels per acre, which is less than half of what is considered a good or even average crop. He said the 100-plus degree days in August “made the drought a whole lot worse” for farmers. A lot of rain is also needed to raise the ground water levels for farmers, he said.

“Right now, we need to hope and pray for better times next year,” Derrick said.

Unfortunately, he said, there is no current disaster assistance available for farmers for this year's crop.

“Most farmers have crop insurance, but it's not near enough to cover their losses this year,” he said.

Derrick said this is two years in a row that Cherokee County has suffered with poor crops because of drought.

“It's got to get better,” he said. “We won't have a lot of farmers left if we have another year like this.”