La. Cotton Farms Hope for Dry Weather

"We lack about five or six days; after that, most everybody will be done," said Billy Guthrie, a Tensas Parish farmer. "Everybody that I talk to says that they have a gem of a crop."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that, as of Sunday, 75 percent of Louisiana's cotton was harvested. That's well behind the same time last year, when 92 percent already was in, but just off the five-year average.

The agency forecast a record average yield of 990 pounds an acre this year, 44 pounds per acre better than last year, in spite of total production expected to reach 670,000 bales -- far short of last year's 1.2 million bales.

Many farmers this year planted cotton acreage to corn, which was bringing higher prices.

Jess Barr, executive director of the Louisiana Cotton Producers Association, said rain has slowed harvest the past two weeks for farmers who want to bring in their crop. Too much rain hindered yield potential in southern Louisiana, while farmers in the northeast have been pleased with their crops, he said.

Some cotton gins have caught up with their workload and shut down, but Barr said others will be running for a few more weeks.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Tobacco, peanuts, cotton and soybeans have been the dominant crops in Virginia for years.

But the tomato has jumped to the head of the class: Virginia now ranks No. 3 in the United States in producing tomatoes, behind California and Florida.

State officials aren't sure how tomatoes moved up the food chain. It could be that many other crops have been having such a hard time with weather and prices, or that tomatoes are so versatile and can be used in many other products, officials said.

With a worth of $98.7 million in 2006, tomatoes topped soybeans, No. 1 the year before. Cash receipts for soybeans were $86.4 million last year.

Corn receipts in 2006 were $86.1 million, followed by tobacco and hay, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

In terms of acres harvested, hay reigned, with more than 1.2 million acres. It was followed by soybeans, corn, winter wheat and cotton.

Tobacco sales, at $71.6 million, were 18 percent higher than the previous year. Peanuts fell to the lowest price since 1973, partly because of the demise of the peanut quota system.