Irrigated crop conditions were “highly variable” in the Texas High Plains when the heaviest and most widespread rains in a long time moved into the region.
Cotton futures extended losses Wednesday from the outside reversal the previous session, pressured partly by beneficial rains in the West Texas Plains in recent days.
Benchmark December settled off 70 points at 83.58 cents, just off the low of its 135-point range from up 28 points at 84.65 to down 107 points at 83.58 cents. This was its lowest close since June 27. March lost 63 points to close at 82.17 cents.
Volume declined to an estimated 10,100 lots from 16,449 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 2,131 lots or 13%, EFP 2,000 lots and EFS 22 lots. Options volume totaled 1,752 calls and 1,775 puts.
Forecasters rated chances for additional scattered showers and thunderstorms in the Lubbock area at 50% this afternoon, 40% tonight and 20% Thursday. Widespread rain with embedded heavy showers diminished in coverage and intensity by midday.
Irrigated crop conditions were “highly variable” when rains began to give producers a chance to rest their wells and conserve water supplies.
A number of factors have made it hard to categorize the overall condition of irrigated crops, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist said in a report as the heaviest and most widespread rains in a long time moved into the region.
“There are several things going on,” said Dana Porter, extension agricultural engineer at Lubbock. “First of all, for a lot of the state, especially the High Plains, weΆre in the third year of drought. That presents its own problems, particularly where we have declining well capacities and regulatory pumping limits.”
All these things have come together to amplify the importance of increasing irrigation efficiency, Porter said.
For years, High Plains irrigators have been converting to highly efficient low-pressure systems such as low energy precision application, commonly known as LEPA, low elevation spray application, and subsurface drip irrigation, she said.
“We have a very high adoption rate of these systems, and we have the technology to be very efficient, so mainly weΆre fine-tuning the management these days,” she said.
But irrigation in the High Plains is most always supplemental, Porter pointed out. It depends upon help from Mother Nature, and that help has been limited for years.
The crop outlook as the rains arrived was “all over the map,” Porter said, noting that some fields were “in pretty good shape” and others were “really stressed.”
Futures open interest dipped 166 lots Tuesday to 161,108, with DecemberΆs down 425 lots to 140,421 and MarchΆs up 256 lots to 13,841.
Certificated stocks declined 867 bales to 540,124. There were 5,029 newly certified bales, 5,896 bales decertified and 34 bales awaiting review.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index fell 65 points Wednesday morning to 91.80 cents. The premium to TuesdayΆs December futures settlement widened eight points to 7.43 cents.
