State’s cotton crop less than in 2024

Rains wreaked havoc with Mississippi’s crop planting this spring, leaving cotton and all the state’s row crops in various stages of crop maturity and condition.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 6% of Mississippi’s cotton to be in excellent condition, with 44% good and 40% just rated as fair as of Aug. 31, 2025. Mississippi growers planted an estimated 330,000 acres of cotton this year, which is down from the 520,000 acres state producers harvested in 2024.

Brian Pieralisi, cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said a lot of the state’s cotton looks promising at this late point in the season.

“Cotton that was planted early on well-drained soil looks good, and most of that is in the central to north Delta,” Pieralisi said. “There were a few planting windows near April 20 and early May, and cotton planted then looks good.”

The cotton planted June 1-5 also looks promising at this point, he added, but yield will depend on the amount of heat accumulation units the plants will receive in September.

“But cotton planted mid-June or slightly later does not look good at all, from what I’ve seen,” Pieralisi said.

An extremely wet May hindered the crop the most, as repeated rain events kept growers out of the field and unable to plant during the optimum window. This prevented some of the planned cotton acres from being planted and resulted in late planting for other cotton acres. Most of these acres were found in the Black Prairie and northeast Mississippi areas, but some were scattered elsewhere.

“Every year has challenges with flooded bottomland, off-target herbicide injury and escaped weeds, but by far this year, we have been challenged with the effects associated with not planting at the desired time,” he said. “Poor market prices and high inputs costs have only compounded the issue.”

July was a good month for cotton, and that provided a bright spot for the season to date. Cotton must accumulate enough heat units to mature, and July provided many days of heat. Although it was dry, Pieralisi said most places received a little rainfall when it counted.

“August has been hot enough for proper heat unit accumulation but not too oppressive compared to years past,” he said.

Cotton defoliation began in late August on the earliest planted cotton. Most defoliation will begin by the second week of September.

Will Maples, Extension agricultural economist, said USDA has projected yields of 1,255 pounds of cotton per acre with the state’s total production at 850,000 bales. This compares to 1.241 million bales Mississippi growers produced in 2024.

Compounding low overall production is continued weakness in the cotton market.

“USDA projects the 2025 average farm price for cotton at 64 cents per pound, compared to 63 cents last year,” Maples said. “The U.S. is expected to see lower production this year at 13.21 million bales, compared to 14.41 million bales last year, due to lower acres and yields.”

Maples said weak demand continues to be the story of the cotton market.

“China bought very little U.S. cotton last year, but we were able to pick up some additional sales to countries like Vietnam and Pakistan,” he said. “With a smaller crop this year, the balance sheet is tightening, which could provide future price support.”