Our Views: 'King Cotton' gets smaller

For evidence of cotton’s influence on Louisiana’s history, look no farther than the historic plantation homes throughout south Louisiana. They were built, by and large, through the proceeds of 19th century cotton crops harvested by slave labor. Cotton made Louisiana a regional center of wealth and influence.

Cotton farming continues to be a significant part of Louisiana’s economy, as we were reminded by the latest news on last year’s state cotton crop from the Louisiana Ag Center. But the crop’s Louisiana profile promises to shrink this year, according to Ag Center officials. Cotton acres fell from 285,000 in 2011 to 224,000 in 2012, in a response to falling prices on the world market, Ag Center officials said.

Farming corn and soybean is cheaper, and lower cotton prices are making cotton farming less attractive. Hurricane Isaac and subsequent thunderstorms at cotton harvest also affected crop yields, mostly in the southern and eastern parts of the state.

Cotton is no longer king in Louisiana, and its footprint in the coming year will probably be even smaller. Even so, we wish cotton farmers a successful year in producing a crop that still plays a big role in the world economy.

Comments

1) Comment by bourbon-soda - 13/01/2013

@prbeav - that is an aspect of my question - the past few years, which are all that are represented in the Memphis chart, are somewhat atypical. The price over the past 50 or more years has not been that unstable. Why would one not expect it not come back to its long term levels? < http://www.cotton.org/econ/reports/annual- outlook.cfm > says that LA has the largest decrease in the region? Why is that? Just asking.

2) Comment by prbeav - 13/01/2013

The cotton memphis price chart looks more recent and pretty ugly: http://www.mongabay.com/images/commodities/charts/chart-cotton_memphis.html .

3) Comment by bourbon-soda - 13/01/2013

A little desultory googling finds some graphs that show cotton prices don't change much over time. There seems to have been a spike in 2011, so the prices may be "falling" now, but is this enough to explain a downward long term trend in production? Cotton producers should have made out like bandits during the recent spike. Maybe they need a boondoggle like ethanol has been for corn. See < http://www.mongabay.com/images/commodities/charts/cotton.ht ml > or < http://www.mongabay.com/commodities/price- charts/cotton-price.html > for the cited graphs, or google "cotton prices mongabay."

4) Comment by [e-mail] - 13/01/2013

Things change, but I hope that Louisiana continues to be a major player in cotton production.