The Wichita Eagle | By PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR | August 14, 2002 HEADLINE:
BYLINE: The Wichita Eagle
BODY: White blooms are showing up in the tops of cotton fields across the cotton-growing regions of south-central and west-central Kansas.
And the crop as a whole is looking good, gin managers say.
Producers and would-be producers will get a chance to see just how good tonight at a field day and demonstration plot tour in Cowley County, beginning at 6 p.m.
Gene Latham, general manager of the South Kansas Cotton Growers Association at Winfield, said the tour will include 8.5-acre plots of four varieties, including a Roundup-Ready variety. This week's rains have helped at least some of the state's cotton crop.
"It really came in time to do this crop some good," said Latham." We're going to harvest cotton in Kansas this year. And unless something happens between now and then, we're going to have a good harvest."
South-central Kansas growers have close to 40,000 acres planted in cotton.
Near Moscow in west-central Kansas, the Northwest Kansas Cotton Growers Association has more than 20,000 acres of cotton under irrigation.
And there will be harvest, said Gary Moore, general manager of that group.
"The drought has hurt," he said. "It will hurt production. But we'll harvest 30,000 bales of cotton on the acres we have, and that's not bad. Especially not when you look at the corn and even the stuff under irrigation is being cut for silage."
Drought wiped out much of the 12,000 acres of dryland cotton in the region, Moore said.
"It's been zeroed out and the insurance paid," he said. "But of the irrigated, most of it will make. We had some wiped out by hail, but most of it will be harvested."
In south-central Kansas, where most of the cotton acres are dryland, the irrigated crop will likely make two bales to the acre, Latham said.
"Cotton this year is going to turn some heads in Kansas," he said. "This year has been really tough on our traditional crops. We lost a lot of wheat. This year has been really tough on milo. A crop that makes it is going to get some attention."
So far, Kansas is also dodging cotton's biggest insect problem, the boll weevil.
If all traps this year and next show the state to be weevil-free, Kansas will gain official USDA "boll weevil-free" designation, which will enable Kansas producers to more freely move their product to states and nations with weevil restrictions.
"This could be a real boon for our cotton producers," said Jamie Clover Adams, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture. "It has the potential to solidify Kansas' foothold in national and international cotton markets."
Trapping for weevils began in 1998 and has been expanded every year since. Any producer who has not been contacted about having a trap placed in a field should call the Kansas Department of Agriculture's plant protection and weed control program at (785) 862-2180 or the USDA's Topeka office at (785) 235-0212.Reach P.J. Griekspoor at 268-6660 or pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com.The Wichita Eagle:
