It wasn’t supposed to happen in Warren County this year, but lo and behold, cotton was planted and it’s growing.

At a glance

In the past five years, the number of acres of cotton planted in Mississippi fluctuated and then declined. Numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show:

2005

• Mississippi — 1,210,000 acres; 2,147,000 bales

• Warren County — 12,300 acres; 20,900 bales

2006

• Mississippi — 1,230,000 acres; 2,107,000 bales

• Warren County — 13,800 acres; 27,300 bales

2007

• Mississippi — 660,000 acres; 1,318,000 bales

• Warren County — 4,000 acres; 8,000 bales

2008

• Mississippi — 365,000 acres; 683,000 bales

• Warren County — not available

2009 (projected)

• Mississippi — 270,000 acres; 485,000 bales

• Warren County — not available

Ray Goode is farming the state’s third major commodity in a field off Bovina Cutoff Road, on 265 acres of farmland near Bovina on the bordering tip of Warren and Hinds counties. He’s expecting a harvest in October.

“You got to plant cotton, corn or soybeans,” said Goode, who’s also growing 600 acres of corn in Hinds County. “And the deer have been eating my soybeans, so I rotated to plant cotton.”

In the spring, as Warren County farmers tallied their yields from last year, cotton farmers said they didn’t expect to plant any this year, blaming the economy and remnants of hurricanes this time last year that ruined cotton crops.

Warren County Extension Service Director John Coccaro was surprised to hear about Goode’s crop.

“It’s very unusual for farmers to plant cotton crops this year because of the value,” Coccaro said. “Cotton prices have not kept up pace like soybeans and corn. The only thing to entice farmers is if the value of the crop went up.”

But Goode said he expects no steeper drop in cotton profits than from his corn. Corn is down from $4.25 per bushel in early May to $3.25 per bushel this past week.

As for any weather, “There’s always a chance,” he said.

Cotton will range from 50 to 55 cents per pound through harvest, the futures market is predicting. The crop was at 65 cents a pound until a stock market dip two weeks ago.

“Until the economy improves and maintains a more consistent strength, cotton will be hard-pressed to stay above 60 cents a pound,” Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economist John Michael Riley said in a news release last week.

This year, total cotton acreage in Mississippi was projected to be 270,000 acres, producing 485,000 bales, said U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In 2008, 365,000 acres — or 683,000 bales — were produced.

In five years, the acreage allotted to cotton in Mississippi has dropped about 79 percent.

The highest total acreage for cotton was in 2006, with 1,230,000 acres, producing 2,107,000 bales. That year, Warren County grew 13,800 acres, producing 27,300 bales.

Totals for 2008 and 2009 were not available.

With the close of the Eagle Lake Gin on Mississippi 465 last year, Goode plans to have his cotton spun at Gaddis & McLaurin, a Bolton gin 25 miles east of his field. Gaddis & McLaurin, which has been in operation for more than 100 years, serves farmers within 100 miles.

“Our volume is way down” from the last three years, said the company’s president, Ted Kendall.

The gin produced 35,000 bales of cotton three years ago and 10,000 last year, and Kendall projects about 7,500 bales this year.

“We had to adjust,” he said.

For this season, Kendall’s gin only runs one shift.

“Last year, for the first time, we didn’t run 24 hours,” he said.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com