Surprisingly, there are more bowls of cotton on Riley Duncan’s family farm than expected after a summer of 100 degree days and rainfall amounts well below average. “We're averaging a lot better than we thought we did, everything is 1,000 pounds or little over. We really didn't think we were gonna have that much”, Duncan stated. All of the cotton on this farm is not irrigated, so getting what most years would be considered to be an average crop is quite astonishing. Duncan added, “At the beginning of the year it was really good, we got rain when we needed it. Then it got 100 degrees for a month straight and it didn't rain for I think two, and it ain't much we can do about that, just keep going”.
While the weather kept Louisiana cotton growers from having a bumper crop, it may have played a factor in the larger than expected yields. Catahoula Parish Ag Agent Kylie Miller stated, “Not even the insects like hot weather, just like us. So the pressure from insects and diseases has been a little bit lighter than we normally have, so we've had some relief there”. Cotton has been the traditional crop grown by Dunan and his family and having a stake in the local gin means that cotton has a place in their operation. Miller added, “A lot of the farmers here are bought into the local gins. We have two local gins here in Catahoula Parish, so the guys that are in in those gins typically are going to plant cotton that year”.
After harvesting acres and acres of soybeans and corn, Duncan is glad to finish the harvest season with cotton. “Cotton at the end of the year, when you get to pick it, you feel like you've accomplished a little bit more than you do with corn and beans.”