Harvest season pushes on, and farmers are making good progress.
USDA’s Crop Progress Report shows that 30 percent of the U.S. corn crop has been harvested, which is three points ahead of the five-year average. 47 percent of soybeans are in the bin, more than 20 points ahead of last week, and 51 percent of the winter wheat crop is in the ground, which is just below the five-year average of 52 percent.
The cotton crop took a big hit from Hurricane Helene. Some farmers in its path lost everything to the storm, and now an already hurting industry is being dealt even more bad news.
“Georgia, obviously among our major cotton production states, took the hardest hit from Hurricane Helene, and two weeks ago, we knew that the crop was just 11% very poor to poor. Two weeks later, that number has skyrocketed to 31% very poor to poor. At the same time, the good to excellent rating in Georgia two weeks ago was 59% good to excellent. That has now dropped down to 34%. So we see what has happened. There is a significant portion of the crop either damaged or lost due to the hurricane,” said USDA’s Brad Rippey.
Hurricane Milton is now another concern for farmers in the southeast. It is expected to make landfall within 24 hours, dealing a direct hit to the Gulf Coast of Florida.
West Cotton growers have also been dealing with wet weather after Hurricane Francine. However, given the recent devastation in other parts of farm country, they say the situation is going as well as it can.
“Out here in West Texas, we’ve had pretty good open weather. Our crop has progressed nicely. We did catch some pretty good widespread rains here, which has put the crop back into kind of a regrowth mode. Right now, we’re battling with wet conditions from Hurricane Francine, which came through. The cotton seems to be holding up pretty well, though. We were just at the start of the onset of defoliation, so I think that pending any other issues with the weather, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
The Cotton Commission expects yield losses from Hurricane Helene to land anywhere from 35% to complete loss, but they say the damage goes beyond just the crops. They warn it will impact rural communities for years to come.
