CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Round after round of heavy rain in the spring and summer left farms across the Coastal Bend with standing water that threatened crops.
For Orlando Cadena, who farms cotton and other crops in Nueces and Jim Wells Counties, it was a close call.
“We actually had a farm that got flooded out twice," he said. "We were still able to harvest most of that."
And now he's reaping the rewards of the highest price for cotton in a decade.
Cadena says he made just 70-cents per pound of cotton last year.
This year it's closer to $1.10 mostly due to extreme weather and high demand from China reducing the supply of cotton.
Cadena's 4,000 to 6,000 acres of cotton yield 1,000 pounds per acre.
“It was a very good year for us," he said. "It was a very challenging year. We got challenged in a lot of different areas with the weather and everything else."
There is a downside.
Higher cotton prices will likely drive up the prices for clothes and other cotton products.
“I’m sure it will go up just like everything else will in the world right now," Cadena said.
As he plans for the next cotton season, he says the global pandemic and it's negative impact on supply chains, is making that process more challenging this year.
"We’re having problems (finding) chemicals and equipment and everything else due to the COVID just like everybody else is right now,” Cadena said.
