Cotton loses its crown

Higher production costs shift area farmers’ focus to corn and soybeans

Here’s another blow to tradition: Cotton is no longer the agriculture king of Madison County.

For years, Madison and Limestone counties have been the top cotton producers in Alabama, but cotton’s status in Madison County is changing this year.
“This is will be the first time for cotton to be knocked down off its throne,” said Eric Schavey, the regional extension agent for a seven-county area of North Alabama. “This year will definitely do it in.”

About 21,000 acres of cotton were planted in Madison County last year. In 2007, there were 35,000 acres of cotton in the county.

Schavey expects about 15,000 acres of cotton to be planted in the county. For the state, he expects about 193,000 acres - down from about 300,000 last year.

“You can expect about one-half to three-quarters of what was planted (here) last year,” he said.

The reason: cotton’s production costs.

“They’re higher than soybeans and corn,” he said. “You’ve got to be in the field more with cotton.”

Bragg Farms in Hazel Green is an example of how farming in Madison County is changing.
On a clear, mild morning, perfect for farming, Dennis Bragg prepares to climb aboard his John Deere combine.

Bragg, 38, is the owner and operator of Bragg Farms, among the largest operations in North Alabama.

On this day, he’s trying to plant his 500th acre of corn before a cold front, packed with rain, moves into the area that night.
By the end of the day, he has accomplished his goal.

In four days of planting corn, he’s already equaled the amount of cotton he’ll plant this year.

“The chatter (among area farmers) has been that we’ve been holding on to cotton, hoping that the market will come back to us,” he said. “We’ve waited two years and it hasn’t come back. Two more years of waiting is too, too long. It’ll come down to how quickly the market comes back or how much does the government want to keep America in the cotton business.

“I would not bank on the latter.”

Bragg learned to plant cotton from his grandfather, Dennis O. Bragg, who began farming in Hazel Green in 1937.

In recent years, though, his farm’s cotton producing has declined as prices have risen. The farm planted 3,300 acres of cotton in 2006, 2,200 acres in 2007 and 1,200 acres last year.

This year, he expects to plant 3,300 acres of soybeans, 3,200 acres of corn and 500 acres of cotton.

“We’ve had a six-fold increase in the (cotton) seed price, but no increase in the price we’re receiving for commodities,” Bragg says. “Fertilizer has gone from $300 a ton to $1,000 a ton. That is OK in the case of corn and soybeans, where their prices have tracked up because they are tied to crude oil. But cotton is not.”

Bragg, though, foresees a day when cotton is king again.

When that day happens, he envisions cotton production using more technology and less labor.

“The people growing it may be different, and the warehouses and the ginners may have to restructure to be king again,” he said. “It has done that in past times and revived itself.

“If the prices do not revive it, it’ll have to go through a rebirth of its own.”

Last year, cotton prices hovered near 90 cents a bushel, the break-even mark for farmers. In previous years, prices have been about 50 cents a bushel.

“There will be a rebirth,” Bragg said. “But, like all births, it will be painful.”

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Source:  al.com