Cotton growers in Texas and other southwestern states plagued by years of drought may plant fewer acres next season because of a bureaucratic delay in implementing a provision of the farm bill.
The U.S. Agriculture Department was supposed to calculate production yields for all commodities by county in time for the 2015 crop year. But it now says it can't do that until the 2016 crop year.
The delay is expected to reduce the amount of crop insurance available for purchase by growers because they won't be able to exclude years of eroded production caused by the last decade of drought. Farm lenders use such production stats in determining loans.
Cotton growers, unlike other commodity producers with other financial protections, are expected to be hardest hit by the delay.
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