Texas’ Cotton Industry Is Facing Its Worst Harvest In Years — Costing The State More Than $2 Billion

By Jayme Lozano

Cotton production has been decimated by drought and extreme heat this year, costing Texas High Plains farmers and other agricultural industries at least $2 billion, according to one estimate.

“There’s just not much crop out there,” said Brad Heffington, a cotton farmer in Littlefield. “A lot of cotton burned up and a lot of it never even made it up to begin with.”

Heffington’s farm is about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock in the state’s High Plains, an area that stretches from Lubbock to the tip of Panhandle and covers 42 counties.

Higher diesel and fertilizer prices are squeezing farm profit margins ahead of the midterm elections. Farmers in Iowa and Kansas discuss rising harvest costs, the war in Iran and whether those pressures will change their votes.