Fewer Cotton Growers Expected After Early Cotton Pickin’
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ALAMO, Tenn.- Cotton has long been a money making crop for West Tennessee Farmers. Some farmers are choosing to use their land to grow corn, wheat and soybeans instead of cotton. They are less expensive to grow with new chemicals to control weeds. Pig weed has become a huge problem in cotton fields. It is a hard to kill plant resistant to chemicals. “We can grow grain and alternate these crops and hold the pig weed down because one female pig weed plant can put off two million seeds,” said Crockett County Farmer Henry Fincher. Fincher says his cotton field had already been sprayed three times this summer for weed control and seven times for insects. He is spending $80 an acre more on chemicals than he did five years ago. “It’s just a very expensive crop to put in and the price does not justify growing cotton, actually at today’s price your probably losing money,” said Fincher. Fincher has grown cotton for thirty-four years. He is considering not growing cotton next year. Five years ago he had 2,100 acres of cotton. This year he is down to 550 acres.
