| September, 2000 | THE LATEST SCOOP ON YOUR FARMLAND | Volume 12, Number 3 |
Our tenant's Pima and Acala cotton crops are maturing early this fall. The weather last summer was nearly ideal for growing cotton, with few unusually hot days and no cool days. This should result in harvest dates at least a week earlier than usual.
The price for Pima cotton has steadily risen during this year's growing season. The prospect is now for Pima cotton to bring more than a Dollar per pound. However, the price for Acala cotton continues to be in the $.65 to $.68 range. But since the U.S. Government offers a certain amount of price protection for upland cotton through its Loan Deficiency Payments, and since this is an election year, with plenty of Federal money available to try to bribe the farm vote, we expect the effective price for Acala cotton to be about $.80.
This picture shows the ingenuity required of a small farm operation. This is a John Deere 110 garden tractor, built in about 1962. Our tenant has added a 14 gallon spray tank for use in controlling the weeds that grow around the farm. The pump motor is electric, wired through a switch to the tractor's battery.
Robert Sturgeon
Publisher, Editor, Reporter, Ace Photographer, Newsroom Flunky, Webmaster
rsturge@inreach.com
http://www.vistech.net/users/rsturge