As U.S. cotton farmers continue to lose money, some may 'lose the farm.' A 2025 Farm Bill could help.

Cotton has lost market share relative to man-made fibers.

(National Cotton Council graph via Farm Journal)

A sour market and steep input prices may put some U.S. cotton farmers out of business. "Cheap cotton prices and dwindling demand are just part of the problem," reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "Input costs have climbed and there’s no safety net to be found from a new farm bill."

In decades past, farmers would often choose cotton over food production crops, but overall changes have made the crop an unprofitable investment. "With cotton prices falling below farmers’ breakeven, that crop is causing financial pain to even grow," Morgan explains. Franz Rowland, who grows cotton in Boston, Ga., told him, “There’s no farm bill to support us, and the reference price is so low that it’s not anything that we can depend on."

While cotton is a dependable crop, it's expensive to produce and harvest. "Cotton is a high input crop that requires a heavy dose of fertilizer and intensive pest and weed management," Morgan adds. "But in addition to that, today’s cotton farmers are dealing with the rising cost of equipment." A used cotton picker can cost around $585,000, but a new one retails for roughly $1 million.

The outlook for 2025 cotton crops is negative. The president and CEO of National Cotton Council, Gary Adams, told Morgan, "We’ve gone beyond just losing money now that we’re to the point of losing the farm. Unfortunately, where the industry is, that’s what it looks like as we’re going into 2025." Morgan adds, "There’s a lot to unpack in explaining why cotton prices are so low, but the biggest reason is dwindling demand."

Cotton's biggest competitor is man-made fibers such as polyester. "At the same time, big cotton producers, such as Brazil and Australia, are staring at big crops, which is helping global competition for the smaller market that’s left," Morgan reports. "China is still a larger buyer of U.S. cotton."

For now, U.S. cotton farmers are pushing for a 2025 Farm Bill that offers support. Adams told Morgan, “I just can’t state this strongly enough: We have to have a farm bill done by Congress this year that applies to the 2025 crop."