Uncle Sam Offers Financial Relief to Cotton Growers

Cotton growers will tell you times have been economically challenging the past five years.

You can blame sagging prices and global oversupply. In fact, the crop last fall hit its lowest price in a half-decade, selling for 60 cents a pound vs. 88 cents a pound in 2011. The National Cotton Council of Americapredicted most growers lost money in 2015.

The situation has been dire enough for some growers that they’ve resorted to selling their equipment and even their land. Ouch.

Well, enter Uncle Sam with a program to help with domestic marketing of the fiber while providing some financial relief for 2015 cotton growers. There’s only a couple weeks left for 2015 cotton producers to submit an application to participate in a $300 million Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Cotton Ginning Cost-Share program.

While the Cotton Ginning Cost-Share program makes payments to cotton producers for cotton ginning costs, the benefits of the program will be felt by the broader marketing chain associated with cotton and cottonseed, including cotton gins, cooperatives, marketers and cottonseed crushers and the rural communities that depend on them.

Under the cost-share program, eligible cotton producers can receive a one-time cost share payment, which is based on a producer’s 2015 cotton acres reported to FSA, multiplied by 40 percent of the average ginning cost for each production region. The West region, which includes California, will receive $97.41 per acre of Pima or Upland cotton planted in 2015. For example, a San Joaquin Valley grower who reports 100 acres would receive $9,741.

Strong production has contributed to an oversupply of cotton.

Completed forms must be received by the local FSA office no later than August 5. Payments will be processed as applications and other eligibility forms are received, and are expected to begin in July.

Here are the locations of FSA offices for Madera, Merced and Fresno counties

MADERA SERVICE CENTER
425 N GATEWAY DR STE E
MADERA, CA 93637-3163

 MERCED SERVICE CENTER
2926 G STREET, SUITE 103
MERCED, CA 95340

FRESNO SERVICE CENTER
4625 W JENNIFER AVE STE 109
FRESNO, CA 93722

To learn more about the Cotton Ginning Cost-Share program, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/cgcs or contact a local FSA county office. To find your local FSA county office, visit http://offices.usda.gov. 

Meanwhile in the fields, field scout Carlos Silva says lygus pest pressure eased in cotton in the past week. Many growers are telling us they haven’t sprayed their fields all season. That’s good news. Let’s hope the pest numbers continue to stay low in the coming weeks.

In alfalfa, beet armyworms counts remain a concern, but their presence is still below the treatment threshold. Most growers figure they’ll be harvesting soon so spending money on treatment applications isn’t worth it. Otherwise, there are no major pest worries for alfalfa growers, Carlos says.