Farmers say weather may delay cotton harvest

JACKSON, Tenn. — More farmers say they were able to come to the University of Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center’s Cotton Tour Field Day because they are waiting out Tropical Storm Gordon.

“Managing cotton in this environment can be a little bit of a challenge,” said Dr. Tyson Raper, a specialist in cotton and small grains. “We want to make sure we get it out as quickly as possible without weathering, but we also don’t want to open it up in front of a really big rain event.”

Producers say instead of harvesting their cotton right now, because of Tropical Storm Gordon, they might not be able to until the end of September.

“I’m not defoliating today because of that,” Thomas Hughes said. “We’re waiting to see how much rain we get, and when it passes through, then we are starting to take leaves off and preparing to harvest.”

Hughes is a cotton farmer and harvester from Crockett County. This late in the game, rain costs farmers money. “It kind of puts the plant back into growth, and it can also wash your chemical off, and your chemical doesn’t work as good.”

That has an impact on the final product.

“Quality is a big deal for the consumer,” Raper said. “It can determine whether or not cotton fiber makes it into a pair of blue jeans, which would be relatively low quality, or something like a really nice bed sheet, which is much higher quality. We’ve got to protect fiber quality. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t allow it to weather too much in the field and maintain that very white color where the mills can process it and get it a very good return to the producer.”