One big shoe has already dropped in the Valley's cotton fields with Westlake Farms Inc. pulling 15,000 acres out of production earlier this month. A crop that had started to regain its luster and was edging back to its million-acre status in California is again in question.
Labor cost is up.
The numbers don't work. And some are saying they still expect overall acreage will match last year's or even exceed it. Bagby said he knew of one other grower, with just 400 acres, who said he probably would not plant this year. And Bagby does expect there will be more planting of longer fiber pima cotton this year instead of the upland or acala varieties because of pricing differences. The decision to pull the plug on cotton for at least one year was not an easy one for Ceil Howe Jr., president of Westlake Farms.