Challenging Year for Cotton Growers

Forrest Laws, Contributor

Last season (2025) was a year cotton producers will remember, but not for the reasons many would prefer.

From central Texas to Centre, Alabama, cotton growers saw heavy rains in May and June cause lengthy planting delays or, in some cases, prevent them from planting large percentages of their acres.

Rich Lindsey, who manages Cherokee Gin & Cotton Co., in Centre, was expecting farmers in the 11 counties the gin serves to increase acres last spring when other regions were reducing theirs.

"Talking to my ginner friends from all over the Southeast, almost everyone was looking at decreased acres [due to prices]," he says. "We had the opposite situation here. Cotton is our most consistent -- and for most growers, my farm included -- our best insurable crop." Lindsey, his father, Richard Lindsey, and Brent Tidwell own Coosa River Land Co., a 4,000-acre operation where cotton is the primary crop.

"When the chips were down and economics were tough, we were going to grow more cotton," he explains. "I was expecting a 5 to 10% increase until the weather hit, and we had higher rainfall in May and June than any living farmer in this part of the world remembers."

As a result, acreage dropped 60 to 65% from 2024. Some growers couldn't get all the crop in.

"We planted as much cotton as we could, but we had lots of low land that just didn't dry out in time," he adds. "We got about two-thirds planted. Of that, 10 to 15% is a total loss because it rained again, and water stood on it. We converted about a third to soybeans."

REPLANT PROBLEMS

In west Tennessee, growers planted more acres but had to replant because of excessive rain, says Tyson Raper, Extension cotton and small grains specialist with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. "Our intentions were 265,000 acres; we actually planted around 150,000 acres.

"The lesson we learned in 2025 is similar to 2024, 2022 and 2021: west Tennessee and much of the Mid-South was excessively wet at planting time," he notes. "And that's been a real challenge, trying to get the crop established on time.

"We always have challenges associated with planting, but, lately, we've had to deal with very large rainfall events," Raper continues. "Not just small cotton showers, .2 of an inch, we're getting an inch or an inch and a half. It is not uncommon to be looking at two-, three-, four- and five-inch rainfall events."

That increased the number of acres farmers had to replant, making the crop more difficult to manage. "Farmers that have been growing cotton all their lives didn't get a single seed planted in May," he notes.

In central Texas, growers had a cool, wet start because of rains in May and early June, according to Mark Nemec, a consultant who advises cotton and corn growers from the Texas Blacklands down to the Brazos River Bottoms.

"We had a late cold snap right after we planted that slowed things up," he says. "When it warmed up, it started raining again." The crop took off, and yields largely came in better than expected.

WEED CONTROL PROBLEMS

Another challenge was that no dicamba-based herbicides could be used on Xtend cotton varieties after EPA withdrew their registration in 2024.

"So we've had some [weed] escapes, and we're having to go old school," points out Nemec. "Some of these farmers nowadays have never farmed without over-the-top herbicides on [herbicide-] resistant crops."

That meant applying residual herbicides to try to prevent glyphosate-resistant waterhemp from emerging.

"A lot of farmers put out a preemergence herbicide, which was a good thing," he says. "And, we applied over-the-top [residuals] where we could. Where we got into trouble was it rained so much we couldn't get in with over-the-top postemergence herbicides, and weeds took off."

That required multiple applications of glufosinate or Liberty herbicide on resistant varieties. "About half of my cotton is Phytogen 2,4-D-resistant cotton, and we cleaned up a lot of problems with the Enlist herbicides," explains Nemec.

Growers had a mass migration of cotton fleahoppers as natural host plants began to dry down. Stink bugs also began moving in, and helicoverpa zea, or corn earworms, had their annual egg lay in cotton. Centric and Transform controlled the former, and the insect-resistance trait in the Bollgard 3 and Widestrike cotton worked well.

Given the wet conditions, Nemec was shocked growers didn't have more seedling disease. "There was an occasional field that had to be replanted, but, for the most part, the fungicide seed treatments seemed to hold."

Plant growth regulators were another issue. "With all the moisture in May and June, the new varieties are requiring more PGRs," he explains. "We also had one of our wettest Julys ever, and we had to spray even more."

CHANGES FOR 2026

Raper says some west Tennessee farmers are considering drastic measures. "We've been known for pioneering planting no-till for decades, but some growers are considering bedding up their low-lying fields to help move water away from seedlings. Our farmers know that doesn't mean on our rolling hills; it's these bottom soils that take longer to dry out."

He's also recommending reduced seeding rates -- to as low as two plants per foot of row or 28,000 to 32,000 plants per acre. "In these types of springs, increasing seeding rates won't help. We need to optimize inputs. I have yet to have a grower who, after making a slight or even substantial cut in seeding rates, who was disappointed. If you start with the optimum seeding rate, it's easier to manage insects, to control diseases and to defoliate."

In Alabama, Lindsey says farmers are praying the rains don't happen again. "We have a trial we're conducting with Auburn University to look at managing late planted cotton to see if we can adjust planting dates. Some of the newer varieties respond differently than the legacy varieties, and that might give us more flexibility."

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