Drought and fuel cost could flare up cotton prices
20 Jul '06
2 min read
National output notwithstanding, farmers in El Paso are confident of a good crop this year amid fears of rising fuel prices which could make the process costlier a lot.
Lower Valley cotton farmers are confident that the crop would be unaffected in spite of less water supply of 1 acre-feet than the required 4 acre-feet.
Farmers said that being in the desert, they can't rely on rain and most of water for crop is received through the supply.
But the farmers in other parts of Texas are skeptical as the rain has so far eluded them and it is feared that the production may be well below average with some even predicting that production would be half compared to last year of 8.4 million bales.
Jack Langenegger, Vice President of member relations at the Southwestern Irrigated Cotton Growers Association said that the price would be higher this year than it has been in the last few years.
Farmers in other parts are worried over the rising production cost due to sharp rise in fuel prices since they use tractors; lack of rainfall has forced them to pump in waters in their cotton fields.
All this is likely to result in higher prices of cotton produced, which according to farmers is necessary to compensate the higher production cost.
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