Patterson Irrigator

Melisssa Carrick / Photographer / Patterson Irrigator

Del Mar Farms planted about 160 acres in April at Needham and Rogers roads north of Patterson, becoming the first grower to raise the crop in the county in recent memory.

Until now, growers worried that chilly Stanislaus County nights would be more than the plants could handle, but thanks to recent advancements, Del Mar Farms is willing to give it a try.

“There are some new varieties that have been growing in San Joaquin County,” said Lee Del Don, co-owner of Del Mar Farms.
The slight increase in cotton acreage bucks a statewide trend of disappearing cotton fields.

These days, there’s about 450,000 acres of California cotton, said Mark Bagby, director of communications for Calcot, an 80-year-old cotton marketing co-op with 1,400 members.

“The acreage has been cut in half over the past decade,” he said. “It was up to 1.1 million acres once upon a time.”

However, the cotton acreage in Stanislaus County jumped from zero to 160 this year, thanks to Del Mar Farms.

“This is a first for the county,” said county agriculture inspector Joe Duchala.

So far, the crop’s done well.

“It’s looking pretty good,” Del Don said.

While it’s his first attempt at growing cotton in Stanislaus County, Del Don is no stranger to the cotton business. He’s been growing it in Fresno County for about 10 years.

If the 160 acres does well, he plans to expand the Stanislaus County operation. 

Cotton growers in the state face a series of obstacles when trying to run a successful business, starting with carting the harvested plants to a processor to remove the seeds. Like the acreage of California cotton, the number of California gins has decreased dramatically over the years, Bagby said.
 

“It’s a transportation issue, hauling cotton to the actual gin,” Del Don said.
And though some in-state options remain for seed removal, farmers must turn to foreign processors to turn the bales into yarn.

There might be one facility left in California that still provides that service, Bagby said, but most likely it has stopped operating.

“The infrastructure begins to dry up,” he said.

Overseas competition doesn’t end there, either. The quality of foreign-grown cotton is improving, Bagby said, pushing some growers out of the business. Many have cut back on their cotton acreage or removed it altogether.

“Our primary competition is corn and alfalfa,” Bagby said. “With the influx of dairies, these cows need to be fed.”

Orchards are also being planted where cotton used to grow, especially almonds, Bagby said. In those cases, the likelihood of cotton returning to those acres is pretty slight, because unlike row crops, perennial almond trees remain year after year.

Still, California cotton growers remain competitive by offering some of the highest-quality cotton, Bagby said. Even with the gains foreign cotton growers have made, California-grown remains synonymous with a superb product, he said.

To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment