While Kern County is known for being home to the production of corn, almonds, and pistachios, this year local farmers saw a decline in the number of acres they were able to plant in cotton. Typically, Kern farmers grow roughly 120,000 acres of cotton, but due to the wet winter we started 2023 with, that number has dropped this year to about 80,000 acres. 23ABC's Breanna Polk spoke to a Kern County cotton farmer to learn more.
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00:00 While Kern County is known for being home to the production of corn, almonds and pistachios,
00:04 this year local farmers saw a decline in the number of acres they were able to plant for
00:08 cotton.
00:09 23 ABC's Briana Polk paid a local farmer a visit today to learn about why the production
00:14 of Pima cotton was impacted this year and what that means for consumers.
00:19 Right here behind me is acres and acres of cotton.
00:23 Typically here in the Central Valley, roughly 120,000 acres of cotton are grown.
00:27 But due to the wet winters that we saw earlier this year, that number dropped down to about
00:32 80,000 acres.
00:34 Water is such an important resource for farmers.
00:37 However, too much of it can be an issue for certain crops.
00:42 It's one of the lowest cotton acreages we've had in the history of California since we
00:45 started planting Pima.
00:46 Jake Halza is a fourth generation farmer in Kern County and says the previous winter rains
00:52 brought floods that farmers haven't seen in decades.
00:55 Very extreme winter, we've saw floods that we haven't seen in 40, 50 years.
01:02 I want to say the wettest winter since 1983.
01:04 Out in Bunn-Whitlow is where Halza grows acres of Pima cotton.
01:08 However, as a result of the heavy rains from earlier this year, many grounds for agriculture
01:14 in the Central Valley have become soggy, posing a challenge for some farmers.
01:20 Upwind side is around 20,000 and I think it stayed the same.
01:23 Mostly due to that flooding up north and this late rain that we had kind of diverted
01:29 people into growing different crops and unfortunately some not growing any crops at all.
01:36 Halza says he usually can plant around 500 to 600 acres of Pima cotton starting in April,
01:42 which is then harvested in October.
01:44 But this year, only 100 acres were able to be planted.
01:48 We run this water around 12 hours, have our guys check it every so often and once it gets
01:56 to the end of the field, we change it.
01:58 But soggy grounds aren't the only thing that has been impacted.
02:01 Halza says cotton prices have been as well.
02:04 Prices have decreased, high inflation has caused that and consumer spending has gone
02:09 down.
02:10 Pima cotton is more of a luxury item.
02:12 Prices at this time last year were around $3 a pound and right now they're around $2.
02:17 Halza says he doesn't believe the decrease of cotton acreage will raise the price of
02:21 cotton products in stores.
02:23 He says brands will always make their percentage.
02:25 However, he hopes the lack of supply is only short term.
02:29 Although heavy rain did impact the production of cotton, Halza says the unplanted acres
02:34 did not go to waste as they were used for different crops.
02:38 We're harvesting tomatoes right now, just finished harvesting carrots and harvest is
02:43 coming up and it's a great feeling to finish out that crop.
02:46 In Buttonwillow, Brianna Polk, 23 ABC News, connecting you.
02:53 Taking a closer look now at the history of cotton production in California, the State
02:57 Department of Food and Agriculture says cotton was introduced here by missionary padres in
03:02 the early 19th century.
03:03 High demand during World War I caused a cotton boom with a large increase in production in
03:08 the Central Valley.
03:09 Currently it's listed as one of the top five cotton producing counties in the state along
03:14 with Fresno, Kings, Merced and Tulare counties.
03:18 These counties produce more than 90 percent of cotton harvested in California.