Typical September News

The third quarter Farmland News often has very little in the way of news about your farmland. This issue is no exception. The growing season has been nice, with very low insect pressure on the Pima cotton crop and, for the most part, moderate weather. Your tenant has placed his entire crop in a Queensland Cotton/Anderson Clayton sales pool that guarantees a price of at least $.85 per pound. The year's yield and financial results await the harvest.

Slight Changes in the Farmland News

The march of progress has finally engulfed the last holdouts among our fellow land owners. Now we all have immediate access to the Internet. This means that it is no longer necessary to pay any attention to the length of the Farmland News because of printing considerations. And it can now have links back to the Farmland News launcher page as well as my Home Place page.

Local Cotton Gin Closes

Queensland Cotton/Anderson Clayton has closed the Los Banos Gin. Company sources indicate that they are not permanently closing the gin, but are only ceasing operations for this year due to low cotton acreage in the area. This gin has been in operation since the 1930s. Its closing is a reminder of the fact, often ignored by the general population, that jobs and companies in the agri-business sector ultimately depend on the profits earned by farmers. Locally, cotton's many years of low prices have convinced farmers to switch to other, more profitable crops such as almonds and canning tomatoes. The result is that the amount of cotton grown in the area is no longer sufficient to economically justify operating the gin. Your tenant's Pima cotton goes to a roller gin located southwest of Firebaugh, so the local gin closing is mostly a sentimental loss.

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

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