Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504070021
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID RESS RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
DATELINE: RICHMOND (AP) LENGTH: Medium
Farmers across the state's new cotton belt, from Suffolk to Southampton county, are shifting acreage wholesale from corn into cotton - though for many, that means spending nearly $200,000 for the specialized equipment they need.
Farmers in Charles City and New Kent counties are planning to get into the business for the first time in decades.
Virginia farmers' leap to cotton should double the number of planted acres for the second straight year.
``You can't make a good corn crop but one year out of five,'' said Isle of Wight County farmer Jimmy Carroll Jr. ``Cotton looks like it's going to work out.''
Carroll is a newcomer to the cotton boom. He planted the crop for the first time last year, on 180 acres.
This year, he's planting 550 acres. To make sure he can handle that, Carroll is buying a $165,000-plus ``picker,'' a specialized harvester for cotton.
``I've made a commitment,'' he said.
Although it takes a much larger investment to grow cotton than to grow corn, high cotton prices make the crop an attractive option, farmers said. Even in the best of times, when summer drought or ill-timed rains don't cut production, corn is a hard crop to raise in Tidewater's sandy soils.
And the price is rarely high enough to allow a farmer to do much more than break even.
In contrast, cotton prices hit a 10-year high last year and have held. Yields in Virginia averaged more than 900 pounds per acre. At current prices of more than 70 cents a pound, that kind of production should mean a profit per acre of more than $200, agricultural economists estimate.
``I think cotton is here to stay,'' said Cecil R. Byrum, who farms near Windsor in Isle of Wight County, growing cotton and peanuts. ``When we thought about trying to stay in farming, there was no way to do it with corn.''
Byrum has been growing cotton for four years and will plant about 500 acres. He figures he has invested roughly $300,000 in cotton farming equipment and has no doubts he made the right decision.
In Isle of White Wight County, cotton acreage is likely to triple this year. In Southampton County, cotton acreage probably will double, far exceeding corn acreage in what had been Virginia's top corn county.
Much of the increase is because farmers such as Carroll like the results of their recent experiment with cotton.
``And there are all kinds of people now deciding to plant a hundred acres for the first time,'' Carroll said.
A group of seven Northern Neck farmers who teamed last year to experiment with cotton also plan to increase acreage this year, said Robert M. Pitman, who is the extension agent for Lancaster and Northumberland counties and who experimented with cotton on his own Northumberland farm last year.
Pitman said the Northern Neck group won't plant quite as much as they'd like this year, however. While two of the experimenters joined forces to buy a picker last year, it won't be able to harvest much more than the 800 acres the Northern Neck farmers plan to plant this year.
``It's hard to find pickers now,'' Pitman said. ``One of the dealers, over in Tappahannock, has called as far as Texas trying to find a used one.''
by CNB