After years of declines, Central Valley cotton acreage is on the upswing, though pricing and demand hasn't responded favorably to growers. Adobe Stock image

California cotton plantings once covered more than 1 million acres annually, producing a crop worth more than $1 billion a year to the California agriculture economy. But by 2020, according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service, cotton acreage in California was down to about 246,000. Tree crops, vines, alfalfa and corn replaced the acreage that used to be dedicated to cotton as the availability and price of water dampened the outlook.

Last year, the spring rain deluge led to a record low cotton crop — well under 100,000 acres. Now that Tulare Lake has dried out and farmers have returned to their fields, California Cotton Growers President and CEO Roger Isom expects the harvest will be around 164,000 acres this year.

“It would have been more, but the state did not give us a full allocation [of water],” Isom said, although he is happy acreage has bounced back.

In 2023 California saw just 85,000 acres compared to 115,000 acres in 2022. Kings County farmers harvested just 33,000 acres in a county where cotton was once king. Once a big crop in Tulare County, cotton was planted on just 1,500 acres. There were 30,799 acres in Fresno County (down from 34,290 acres in 2022) and 7,226 acres in Kern County (down from 9,591 acres in 2022).

Just how the 164,000-acre estimate in 2024 — double what we had in 2023 — breaks down between Upland and Pima varieties has not yet released by the state Pink Bollworm program, which monitors invasive pests, but most of it will be in Pima, a longtime staple favored by the mills.

Kings County acreage could top 50,000 this year.

On the price front, Isom is less bullish with “guys getting just about $1.25 for their Pima” and lackluster demand from China facing trouble in their economy.

Upland cotton, more widespread across the South, is fetching just $0.69 a pound after pricing closer to $1 this spring. It jumped to $1.40 in spring 2022.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Planted Acres report issued on June 28 showed that U.S. cotton growers planted an estimated 11.7 million acres of Upland and Pima cotton in 2024 — up 14% from 2023.

For 2024, Upland area is estimated at 11.5 million acres, a 14% increase from last year. American Pima plantings are estimated at 182,000 acres, up 24% from 2022.