Record Texas Drought Burns Cotton Farmers as White Gold Withers

The month before cotton reached its highest price ever in March, Brad Heffington bought a 7760 John Deere picker for $500,000 to help get as much “white gold” as he could out of his 6,000 acres in West Texas. Seven months later, the harvester is for sale. The 43-year-old farmer’s crop is wilting; the few plants left are too short for the massive piece of equipment to handle, he says.

At least 65 percent of his crop is gone as drought crushes growers’ chances of benefiting from record prices, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Sept. 19 issue.