Law Strips Standards for Cotton Growers

They still call cotton king here in the western San Joaquin Valley, but Mother Nature and global economic forces are threatening to dethrone it.

That’s why grower Mark Borba of Fresno County is delighted with new state legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Pete Wilson that could foment a revolution in California’s renowned billion-dollar, million-acre cotton business.

Under the measure, effective Jan. 1, growers will be allowed for the first time in nearly three-quarters of a century to plant cotton that doesn’t meet state quality standards.

The change will pave the way for the planting of high-yield varieties and labor-saving genetically altered cotton that can resist insects or tolerate weed-killing chemicals.

But it will also, opponents say, threaten California’s reputation as the source of some of the world’s finest-quality Acala and Pima cottons, which over the years have commanded a price premium over varieties from Texas and the Southeast. And that leaves many farmers in a quandary about just what to put into the ground next spring.

“It’s a dilemma to know what to do,” said Charles Mitchell, a grower in Shafter.

The California cotton industry owes its start to Wofford B. Camp, a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher from South Carolina charged in 1916 with finding new regions to grow extra-long-fiber cotton.

For two years, Camp experimented in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, and concluded that California and Arizona, in particular, lent themselves to the production of Egyptian, or Pima, cotton.

In the 1920s, which saw the growth of industry behemoth J.G. Boswell, growers found that Acala cotton was also well-suited to California. To preserve the state’s cachet, Camp pushed for a one-variety cotton district, which growers approved in 1925.

Since then, with one modification about two decades ago to permit growers to plant high-quality Pima cottons, growers in a six-county area known as the San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton District have operated under that self-imposed restriction.

Until recently, the gamble has paid off, with California garnering a reputation for top-quality cotton that has reaped a price premium of 2 to 3 cents a pound. That adds up when yields hit nearly 1,200 pounds--or about 2 1/2 bales--an acre, as was the case last year. (Calcot, a grower cooperative in Bakersfield, reported Tuesday that the final price for the season received by its 2,200 growers was 78.6 cents per pound. In the last decade, Calcot prices have ranged from 70 cents to 82 cents a pound.)

Still, many growers grew dissatisfied as they watched the Cotton Belt embrace new bioengineered varieties such as Monsanto Co.’s Roundup Ready cotton--albeit with mixed results. Such “transgenic” varieties can save growers money on hand-weeding and chemical sprays for bug control.

Meanwhile, the price of cotton has remained stagnant as production costs soared.

Then last spring, El Nino descended with showers and chilly temperatures, dousing fields and delaying planting for several weeks. During summer, blistering heat fried maturing cotton plants just as they were developing their lushest fruit, causing many potential bolls to abort. All told, growers expect statewide yields to be off 20% to 25%, although early rains could further decimate the crop.

The disruptive weather gave growers a taste of life without restrictions. In May, Gov. Wilson granted an emergency waiver to allow valley growers to plant “short-season” cottons that had not been tested or approved by the San Joaquin Valley Cotton Board. However, very little was planted.

The results have been capricious. Paul Betancourt, a Kerman grower, was one of the lucky ones whose spring plantings were not drowned out. As a result, he said, this season is shaping up to be “our best financial year since 1987.” His neighbors, however, “are worried about losing their farms.”

Compounding California’s problem was the downturn in Asia, the largest market for California’s cotton, most of which is exported. With a diminished global appetite for fancy cotton shirts and other products, the price for cotton slumped.

This summer, grower Borba, Boswell and other dissidents threatened to push through a referendum that might have dissolved the cotton board and its one-quality standard. The board reluctantly agreed to take a neutral stance on the legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Robert Prenter Jr. (R-Hanford).

However, the one-quality standard isn’t passing away quietly. Under a compromise in the law, the board will continue to have authority over “approved” Acala and Pima varieties. And a new group, the San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Assn., plans to represent growers of premium cotton.

Whether California is big enough for all these strategies remains to be seen.

“Much higher yields would be great,” said Mark Bagby, a Calcot spokesman. “But the worst thing would be to lose the premium and not boost yields. That’s why this is a big step and why so many growers are reluctant to leap into it wholeheartedly.”