Good Pima Crop Despite Rains

This past autumn our tenant's fields received the most rain in many years, with 2.94 inches (7.49 centimeters) falling during October and November before the harvest. This is unusually heavy rainfall for so early in the season, and is very deleterious to Pima cotton's grades. It also had an adverse effect on the yield, but less so than the effect on the grades.

Even with all the early rain, our tenant's fields yielded 3.12 bales per acre, or 1560 pounds (708 kilograms). The grades were bad enough to cost our tenant about $.10 per pound. The cotton was all placed in a seasonal sales pool, so the ultimate price is as yet unknown. Our tenant hopes to receive at least $.15 more per pound by next summer, for a total of about $.86 per pound. This is a considerably better result than our tenant achieved last year.

Continued Rains Delay Wheat Planting

The rains just kept on coming after the cotton harvest, with another 2.49 inches (6.32 centimeters) falling during December and more expected in early January. Our tenant may not be able to plant the usual wheat crop and if so, the entire farm will be in cotton next year. With the improved water flow resulting from last spring's pump repair, there should be plenty of water to irrigate the entire farm during next summer's peak water use.

Stearman at the Merced Fly-in

We don't have any suitable artwork for this edition, so here's a nice picture of a Stearman biplane painted in U.S. Navy pre-war colors. The picture was taken at the annual Merced Fly-in last June.

Rent Increase

Thanks to the improved Pima cotton yields, and despite the unusual autumn rains and the high cost of last spring's pump repair, our tenant has managed to increase our rent. Hallelujah!

Robert Sturgeon
Publisher, Editor, Reporter, Ace Photographer, Newsroom Flunky, Webmaster
rsturge@inreach.com
http://www.vistech.net/users/rsturge

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