Wet weather slows down planting for South Plains cotton farmers

LUBBOCK COUNTY, TX (KCBD) - Rain is usually good news, but this wet, cool weather has created headaches for some South Plains farmers.

Typically, cotton planting is in full swing by now, but some farmers haven't even started yet.

One farmer, Steven Brosch, said he hopes to get out there soon to start planting his cotton.

Brosch said he and his family have about 6,000 acres to farm and it will take them about two weeks to plant all the cotton.

However, the weather has slowed that plan down.

"Right now, we don't have a seed put in the ground yet," Brosch said. "We aren't concerned, yet. It has been too wet for us to plant."

He tells us that typically, he would already be planting.

He said with crop insurance he still has some time before he'll start stressing out.

"Putting us a little bit behind, but we aren't concerned yet," Brosch said. "We still have until June 10th, so we're still welcoming the moisture."

Now, with several thousand acres to cover, his land goes into three counties. Lubbock County has until June 5th for crops to be planted.

"About five percent of our land is in Lubbock County, so that's the first place we're going to be focusing on for planting," Brosch said. "After that, Lynn and Garza County, where the majority of our land is June 10th, so we'll do that second."

Right now, Brosch says he is trying to be patient, but if this weather continues the way it's going, he could soon face a problem.

"Just take it a day at a time," Brosch said. "All we can do is, we have everything ready to go. If it dries up enough, we'll start our planting. It's just one day at a time right now."

Now, if the weather does not let up, Brosch does say he has alternate plans in place.

Chip Gilmour, senior vice president of Lubbock National Bank, said crops do affect Lubbock's economy.

"There's no question that Lubbock economy, one of the major sectors of our economy has to be agriculture, cotton," Gilmour said.

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