LUBBOCK, Texas — Cotton producer Nick Kitten knows he's been lucky the past couple of years with back-to-back bumper crops.

This year, however, Texas is in the midst of moderate to severe drought conditions. Still, the 27-year-old remains upbeat as South Plains producers prepare their fields for planting beginning next month by putting down herbicides and fertilizer.

"We just kind of got spoiled the last couple of years," Kitten said. "I'm pretty optimistic."

His optimism isn't shared by some who watch the national cotton scene.

Texas, the nation's largest producer of the fluffy fiber, is the sole area of concern for the U.S. crop this year because of the drought conditions, National Cotton Council spokesman Gary Adams said. The past two years the state produced about 35 percent of the U.S. crop, he said.

"Just given those dry conditions we can't be as optimistic as we have been in the last two years," he said.

There's enough moisture in the soil for South Plains producers to work with for now, though rainfall amounts around Lubbock to date are down from the past two years when Texas harvested record crops, said Steve Verett, spokesman for the Plains Cotton Growers Inc., which serves a 41-county area.

"That moisture will go away if we don't get some rain," he said. "One or 2 more inches across the area will allow for planting."

Through Thursday, the Lubbock area had received 1.83 inches of rain since Jan. 1, down from 3.38 inches for the same period last year.

Drought conditions in the north and central parts of the state have diminished somewhat after heavy rains last month, said Victor Murphy of the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.