2025 Cotton Harvest Update

SHELLY KERNS

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

Cotton harvest has been well underway in Louisiana for a few weeks now. Most of our state’s cotton is expected to be harvested by the end of October, with the exception of a some later planted acres. So far growers have reported picking around 1,200-1,600 lbs., with some reports nearing 2,000 lbs of raw cotton per acre. Most growers have not received reports from their gins yet, so we will have a better estimate on a state lint yield average once turnout numbers start rolling in. Regardless, we are looking well on track to smash the state yield average from the last few years.

Although we are at an all-time low for cotton acreage in Louisiana (just under 100,000 acres), our quality looks better than last year so far. The quality of the crop has many cotton growers in good spirits and looking forward to growing cotton again next year. With an overabundance of corn grown in Louisiana this year, and with increasing fertilizer and input costs, it will be interesting to see how crop trends flux again next growing season. With new incentives recently passed in the one big, beautiful bill act (OBBBA), growing cotton is becoming more favorable as the risks are being better managed through new federal programs and crop insurance options (see summary here: https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/ncc-holds-meetings-to-help-farmers-understand-new-reconciliation-bill). In conjunction with these new incentives, if the markets shine in our favor as we move into next growing season, I hope to see an increase in cotton acreage next year.   ∆

SHELLY KERNS

LSU AGCENTER