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Texas crop and weather report - Focus on peanuts
College Station, Texas
August 30, 2005

While this year's peanut crop is thriving, overproduction from last year has Texas growers concerned about price, according to Texas Cooperative Extension.

"The large crop in 2004 and the significant increase in acreage in Georgia created a situation that has peanut prices suppressed," said Dr. Charles Simpson, professor emeritus at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Stephenville.

Shelly Nutt, executive director of the Texas Peanut Producers Board, agrees.

"We have a year's supply of peanuts sitting in storage right now," she said. "It's the same problem cotton and corn producers face year in and year out – overproduction and oversupply."

Texas remains second to Georgia for peanut production in the United States, Nutt said, and this year will produce yet another large crop.

"Quality will be excellent and yield will be phenomenal," she said.

Jose Pena, Extension economist from Uvalde, said early estimates of Texas peanut production are 912 million pounds. That is a 17. 6 percent increase from last year's 775.5 million pounds produced. The increased estimate is based on an increase mostly in average yields and an increase in acres.

This year's average yields have increased to 3,800 pounds per acre from 3,300 pounds per acre in 2004. And acres for harvest increased to 240,000 acres from 235,000 acres last year, Pena said.

"Dry weather during planting time with good sub-soil moisture allowed (for) good plant stands," he said. "As the crop started to peg, some rains in late July improved the yield potential."

Harvest in Southwest Texas is expected to begin in mid-October and last through November in West Texas, Pena said.

The following livestock, crop and weather conditions were reported by Extension districts:

PANHANDLE: Soil moisture is short to adequate. Temperatures were below average. Isolated thunderstorms were reported. Corn was rated fair to good. Dent stage was reached in 70 percent of the fields. Silage harvest was under way. Spider mites were a problem in late-maturing fields. Cotton was in fair to good condition; some bolls were open. Bollworm activity continued. Peanuts were rated fair to good. Sixty-five percent of the sorghum fields were headed. Fall armyworms caused leaf-feeding damage. Soybeans were rated fair to good. A few wheat fields were planted. Recent rains improved rangeland conditions. Cattle were in good condition.

SOUTH PLAINS: Soil moisture is adequate. Hot and humid conditions were reported. Some areas received 10 inches of rain. Moderate to severe hail damage was reported. Cotton was in good condition. Yield potential looked very good. Corn was in good to excellent condition. The crop started to dry down as many fields reached maturity. Harvest will begin mid-September. Peanuts were in good condition. Pastures and rangelands were in fair to good condition. Native pastures improved. Lake and stock tank levels increased. Cattle were in good condition. Some heifers were fed supplements.

ROLLING PLAINS: Soil moisture is adequate. Producers prepared seed beds for wheat planting. Cotton blooms began to set into bolls. Some fields were sprayed for weeds, and others kicked off bolls and started to grow again. Cattle conditions improved. Supplemental feeding continued. Wheat producers applied fertilizer to fields. Livestock tanks were refilled. Mosquito populations soared.

NORTH: Soil moisture is very short to adequate. Corn, cotton, peanuts and rangelands were rated very poor to fair. Corn fields were 60 percent harvested. Cotton bolls were opening. Very little forage was baled. Rice and sorghum were in fair condition. Sorghum was maturing. Soybeans were rated very poor to good; 60 percent of fields were setting pods. Armyworm infestations were heavy. Livestock producers worried over lack of water for animals. Sweet potatoes were harvested.

EAST TEXAS: Soil moisture is short. Very hot temperatures were reported. Pastures were very short and hay production was almost non-existent. Armyworm infestations were reported. Some producers prepared for winter pasture planting. Cattle were heavily marketed. Pecans were rated fair to good. Insect pressure was moderate to heavy.

FAR WEST: Soil moisture is very short to adequate. Rainfall was reported. Warmer temperatures benefited cotton production. Bolls were setting. Pastures, rangeland and livestock were rated very poor to good. Livestock producers prepared for fall work and stocker cattle shipping.

WEST CENTRAL: Soil moisture is adequate to surplus. High temperatures were reported. Mosquitoes were a problem due to wet conditions. Cotton looked very good. Some producers sprayed for bollworms. Fields were prepared for fall planting as they dried out. Hay cutting and baling continued. Rangelands and pastures were green and in good condition. Livestock were in fair to good condition. Livestock sales held steady. Pecans looked promising. Weevil trap monitoring and pecan weevil spraying continued.

CENTRAL: Soil moisture is short. Wind and high temperatures dried out soils. Corn and grain sorghum harvest wound down. Reported corn yields were fair. Armyworms were reported across the district. Pecan weevils were out. Stocker operations prepared to plant winter pastures.

SOUTHEAST: Soil moisture is short. High wind and scattered showers were reported. Webworms were a problem for pecan producers. Armyworms affected forage crops; producers began spraying insecticides. Cattle prices were down; a surge in calf populations at markets is expected. Hay was baled. Soybeans and corn was harvested.

SOUTHWEST: Soil moisture is very short. The area may have gone too long without rain to produce sufficient over-wintering forage. Cotton harvest continued; good yields and weak markets were reported. Peanuts and fall vegetables made good progress under heavy irrigation. Pecan trees continued to drop pecans due to drought and heat stress. Peach harvest was complete. Grape harvest gained momentum.

COASTAL BEND: Soil moisture is short. Dry, hot weather was reported. Cotton and rice harvest wound down. Cotton yields were fair. Irrigated fields produced better-than-expected yields. Deep tilling and stalk destruction were reported. Soybean harvest continued. Land was prepped for fall gardens. Pastures were dry. Livestock were heat stressed. Cattle prices dropped. Some producers made hay, but pastures needed rain.

SOUTH: Soil moisture is very short. Scattered showers hampered field operations. Cotton harvest wound down. Rangelands and pastures showed signs of heat and drought stress. Supplemental feeding continued.

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