For Oklahoma cotton producers, it has been a remarkable year. With an ideal fall growing season, the 2016 crop got bigger with each crop production update, culminating with the January Crop Production 2016 Annual Summary report. USDA reports that the Oklahoma cotton crop is a record crop- both in yield and in overall production. Cotton farmers in the state have produced 620,000 bales, ten percent more than was predicted in December and a whopping sixty six percent more than was grown in 2015.
The pounds of lint per acre also increased from month to month this past fall as well- topping out at a record 1,026 pounds in the January summary. That's 17% more than the 876 pounds produced in 2015. The huge production total was achieved from a combination of the record yield and substantial increase in the number of acres harvested- 290,000 in 2016 versus 205,000 acres in 2015. Adequate water for irrigation from Lake Altus Lugert was one factor- along with timely rains in the southwestern counties of the state where the majority of the cotton is grown.
Oklahoma corn production was also higher than 2015- with 42.4 million bushels produced on 350,000 harvested acres. The 2016 production was up 17% from the previous year. After a big jump last year- Oklahoma sorghum production took a small step back with fewer acres grown in the state in 2016. Sorghum production totaled 20.4 million bushels, down five percent from a year ago. We actually saw a small increase in bushels per acre, but the crop saw forty thousand fewer acres harvested this year versus last.
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