The US. Department of Agriculture has released its crop outlook for 2017, and Arizona farmers are increasingly choosing to grow cotton — again.
Cotton acreage reached a historic low just two years ago in Arizona, as prices plummeted and farmers planted fewer than a 100,000 acres of cotton.
Those numbers are creeping back up, and the USDA projects 23 percent more cotton acres than last year.
Arizona growers are planning to harvest more barley and wheat as well, and less corn in 2017.
Looking back, last year’s principal vegetable harvest value in Arizona hit a record high of $1.3 billion — that includes lettuce, broccoli and spinach, to name a few.
