Just three years ago, low prices led to US farmers’ planting the fewest acres with cotton in over 30 years. Now they are planting more land with cotton than they have for decades, attracted by relatively high cotton prices and the crop’s ability to withstand drought.

A 20 per cent increase from last year marks a sharp turnaround for the crop.

The switch to cotton in the southern plains of the United States could be long term as farmers move away from a global wheat market that is increasingly dominated by fast-growing supply from top exporter Russia. US farmers have struggled to make a profit on wheat due to a global glut.

Cotton is a safer bet than wheat because it can be grown with less water, at a time when drought has hit some areas of the US farm belt.

In Kansas, farmers plan to sow 1,30,000 acres of cotton, the most ever. Oklahoma cotton plantings are forecast at 6,80,000 acres, the largest since 1980.

Across the country, farmers will likely plant 13.469 million cotton acres, the most since 14.735 million in 2011.

Not surprisingly demand for cotton harvesters, which strip cotton from the plants and make bales, is going through the roof.