Farms in the South are ditching cotton for other crops this year according to an article from The New York Times titled, “Mississippi Farmers Trade Cotton Plantings for Corn.”

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the amount of cotton that is going to be planted this year in the US will be 8.8 million acres; down 7% from 2008 and 43% from 2006.

Mississippi is abandoning cotton the quickest. This year 268,000 acres are set to be planted, while in 2006, roughly 1.6 million acres were planted. Along with a depleted amount of cotton plantings, gins are disappearing too. Since 2006, Mississippi has lost 18 gins; that’s one out of five!

The Cause

Besides the obvious recession, many other factors are hurting the cotton industry. Unlike in 1983 when there was a large global surplus of cotton, cotton isn’t being used as much anymore. People aren’t buying as many new clothes or furnishings as before.

The most crucial factor is the declining profitability in cotton, especially compared to its’ substitutes; corn and soybeans. Over the past 6 years, cotton prices have fell 23% while corn has risen 65% and soybeans 38%.

Now that new hybrid corn and soybeans can grow in hot climates, farmers have to make the switch. The global demand for soybean oil and corn is growing due to the increasing world population and the expanding middle class in Asia. Cotton, on the other hand, hasn’t seen any increase in demand.

Maybe a site that the South is going to have to get used to

A veteran farmer, Danny Hargett from Mississippi sums it up well, “It was extremely hard for me to make this decision (not to grow cotton), but the economics have made it almost impossible to make cotton a profitable crop.”

- Colvin