Cotton planted acreage in the US is down about three per cent from last year. While pima acreage increased 10 per cent, upland acreage decreased three per cent. A total of 96 per cent of American cotton acreage has been planted, which is slightly more than last year for that date. Quality also appears to be a bit better than last year, with 50 per cent of the total acreage being rated as good to excellent.

Compared to previous year, five states planted fewer upland cotton acres in 2019, including California. Upland cotton planted area is a record low in California. In California, planting started a little behind schedule due to rain and cooler spring temperatures. Weather conditions in May slowed crop progress and led to concerns of high insect pressure. Some farmers switched from upland to pima.

Last year, California growers planted 2,11,000 acres of pima cotton, harvesting a total of 210,000 acres. This year growers planted 2,40,000 acres of pima, an increase of nearly 14 per cent. Altogether California cotton growers have planted 2,80,000 acres for the 2019 crop. The total amount of biotechnology varieties that have been planted this year are 89 per cent, compared to 81 per cent in 2018. Of that total, ten per cent are insect resistant, 38 per cent are herbicide resistant and 41 per cent are stacked gene varieties.