Uncle Sam Takes Aim at Building Cotton Demand

[upbeat music] All right.

Hello out there in the Cotton Belt.

Hey, welcome to the Cotton Companion Podcast.

We are happy to have you with us today.

Uh, it seems that we've had a lot happening out here in the early part of the season as summertime temps, uh, finally arrived.

They have well and truly arrived here in the Mid-South, and as El Niño makes its long-awaited debut here in 2026.

We did get a new USDA crop progress report just a couple of days ago.

That was June 15 when it arrived, and it reflected some strong emergence out there, some good, some beneficial conditions, improving conditions across most of the entire Cotton Belt.

Uh, per that USDA report, we've got 86% of the U.S. cotton crop in the ground.

It had been planted by June 14.

As we podcast here, it's June 18, so that number's probably ticked up just a little bit.

Now, that is just, that 86%, that's just two percentage points shy of the five-year average of 88% on June 14.

And we had three states, Arizona, California, and Missouri, who are completely done and dusted with planting at this point.

Now, there are a few others like Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, and here in Tennessee that are virtually done.

All of them were north of 96% completed, uh, by June 14.

Not much meat left on those bones there in those states.

Over in the Southwest, Texas and Oklahoma are lagging a little further behind, and that tracks with their historical averages.

Texas has planted 80- 80% of its gargantuan cotton crop to this point, and that's up from 68% just a week ago.

So those guys are, are getting it done out there.

Now meanwhile, up in Oklahoma, uh, they have planted 65% of the cotton crop by the, this most recent USDA report.

Uh, also noteworthy from that report, some 19% of the U.S. cotton crop is already squaring.

Uh, this is tracking just one percentage point, uh, earlier than this time last year and two percentage points ahead of the five-year average.

And we must tell you, even those of you who are not done planting, we regretfully inform you that we have boles set [chuckles] down there in the far so- southern corners of the Belt.

Uh, some 2% of this crop, including 3% of the Texas crop, is already setting boles.

Now, that's obviously way down there in the, that Rio Grande Valley area.