Cotton crop expected to be bigger this year

<br>(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Oklahoma's cotton crop promises to be slightly bigger than last year's crop, despite a dry spring and summer. <br><br>Drought-like conditions in early spring worried farmers

Sunday, December 14th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Oklahoma's cotton crop promises to be slightly bigger than last year's crop, despite a dry spring and summer.

Drought-like conditions in early spring worried farmers in major cotton crop-producing counties, such as Harmon, Jackson and Tillman.

But hearty rainfall over Labor Day weekend brought hope to cotton growers in southwest Oklahoma.

The remainder of the fall season saw moderate amounts of rain.

Kenneth Helton, assistant manager at Cotton Growers Cooperative gin in Altus says the weather has been good and the cotton crop is above average.

Most of the state's cotton crop has been harvested. The rest of it will be harvested by the end of the year.

Agriculture officials also the boll weevils which destroy the plant are less of a problem this year.

In 2001, the Oklahoma Boll Weevil Eradication Organization the organization eradicated about 9,000 weevils from cotton crops.

In the past two years, only about 2,000 weevils were found a year.