CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) — The end of summer in South Texas means just one thing to area cotton farmers -- time to clear the fields and bring in the harvest.
Tractors are in motion and farmers are eager to see how much they have produced this year. It's all ready to be sent to the gin, but before that can happen farmers like Larry Mokry have to plant and harvest cotton seed.
"This year we've got about 300 acres of cotton," Mokry said.
Mokry said farmers take a risk by growing cotton because it is not cheap to maintain. All in all it can cost over $250 an acre, and this year Mokry said his gamble isn't paying off.
"The yields are probably half of what they usually are, some of them even worse," Mokry said.
He blames it on the inconsistent rainfall.
"May is your third wettest month from what I understand, and it was one of the hottest, driest May's we've had on record," Mokry said.
On the bright side, Mokry said the cost per pound of cotton is up about 15 cents this year. In order for it to be ready to sell he takes it to the Coastal Bend Co-op Gin where Manager Mike Polk gets the cotton clean.
"We take the seed out and the lint goes to a compress and the seed goes to an oil mill," Polk said.
The gin runs 24 hours a day. They take a round of cotton and once it's cleaned it can produce about 2,000 pounds of pure cotton -- and they go through a lot of rounds.
"We usually gin 24-25 each 12-hour shift," Polk said.
That goes on for about the next three months until there is no more raw cotton. Once the process is complete at the cotton gin, the cotton goes into storage and off to buyers.
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