The government s guaranteed purchase prices set for this year s harvest have increased by only 11 percent as compared with the past year, Mohammad Kaviani, managing director of Iran Cotton Fund commented. Kaviani referred to the cotton growers unwillingness to conclude new agreements with the government for the production of the commodity and warned that the farmers would prefer not to grow cotton, which in turn could lead to the textile industry s need for higher levels of imports. He...

And agriculture expects say the chilly weather might have helped some crops. Las Cruces-area farmer Denny Calhoun says cold weather this time of year also can bring trouble, but his onion and cotton crops haven't been damaged. McWilliams says temperatures usually have to fall below freezing for several hours to cause damage. After warmer-than-usual weather for much of last week, temperatures in Las Cruces dropped Sunday into the mid-30s. An agronomist with New Mexico State University's...

The United States' 25,000 cotton farmers receive subsidies totaling some $4 billion, reportedly allowing them to undercut their developing competitors. The views expressed in the articles are not necessarily those of earthtimes.org and we accept no responsibility for the views or opinions expressed in the articles either direct or indirect. The market is said to be reeling because of what locals call the monster with three heads, namely, the dollar, low world prices and U. West Africa...

Some acres may switch back to beans "Those are important factors and the bean market is trying to buy back some acres," says Wisner. Also, some farmers may change their mind about planting more corn and switch some corn acres back to beans as corn prices have declined following release of the USDA report. There seems to be more strength in the soybean market right now. The acreage shift to corn projected in the report was bigger than many analysts anticipated. Studying the 2007 USDA...

Increases in corn and wheat acreage are expected to come at the expense of soybean and cotton acreage, although intentions show a substantial increase in total acreage to be planted in 2007. For soybeans, supplies will likely remain ample even with reduced acreage in the United States due to large current supplies and record South American production. Planting intentions in western growing areas are down 4.7 million acres, while producers in the eastern Corn Belt intend to reduce acreage...