El Nino Weather Brings Disastrous Crop Yields

The 1998 crop yields are in, and they are almost as low as we had expected. In an unusual twist of fate, the yield on the milo (sorghum) crop was much worse than expected, at 1.38 tons per acre, while the yield on the Pima cotton crop was higher than expected, at 2.67 bales per acre. The yield on the Acala cotton crop was about as expected, at 1.6 bales per acre.

Low Crop Prices

Despite the low yields so common in California's Pima cotton crop in 1998, and despite the fact that California grows most of the world's Pima cotton, the price of Pima did not rise this Autumn. Our tenant will receive about $1.00 per pound for his Pima. The price performance of Acala cotton has been even worse, declining to less than $.70 per pound. Fortunately, our tenant sold his Acala production early when prices were a bit higher, and the U.S. Government is subsidizing the price of upland cotton.

Rent to Suffer Slight Decline

Due to the unprecedented difficulties involved in this year's farming operations, our rent is being reduced by a small percentage. Since this is sensitive financial information, the actual amounts will be provided to us in our rent statements.

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