Still boggles my mind...... Cotton in Ks.... and big cotton acres.
But plant19 trimed those acres by half.only temporarily..... and too late for much of a crop change choice. Just southern two counties out here west, but in the central(Pratt area) cotton acres stretch north as the arkansas river does....acres approaching highway 50 in the center of the state toward the Great Bend/Hutchinson area.
They will be back, the moscow Gin is doubling in size and the reduction in water use to raise cotton over corn is large. The input costs are much lower. And last but not least, the equipment technology and logistics of moving bails is wonderful.(costly but wonderful) Those acres did not go back to corn and will not.
(that area is a great example of how corn expenses are out of control. Sw corn borer and/or spider mites are a guarantee. A $4/acre tech fee took away $25-50 of insecticide cost at least---Tech life was beautiful.... Refuge in a bag approval was a massive gift to seed companies and farmers now pay spraying, scouting, tech fees, and an additional $45 to 50 per acre for this regulatory gift to our enemy the chemical monopoly of seed. And we get to see the truth about refuge in a bag every Sept 1 if we don't get it sprayed just right when 10 to as much as 20% of the corn is flat on the ground if it was labeled wrong or blended in with tolerances . Too bad, mistakes happen, "why would a farmer do that") ---- in areas that pump water corn has a cost problem in the sub $4 price range.
The fringe is in position north and south to cut corn acres in massive numbers quickly, (south has)..... and needs to be. Only the corn raised within the beltway--corn belt and DC---- is guaranteed. Costs are just too high and inflexible.... (imagine what corn production in the midwest would be if every farm was opperated with unlimited cash like the DC beltway production is done.) That alone, makes moving usda to des moines or KC a very meaningful thing to do.
