Cotton Farming - Cotton Consultant's Corner

	Click here to ask Tucker Miller a question or submit a comment about this month’s Cotton Consultant’s Corner.


Recap Of Deltapine FACT Program:

	1. Deltapine’s Field Advancement Cotton Trial (FACT) testing program is a variety trial. 2. Deltapine provides new varieties with different traits, consultants plant them on a grower’s farm and observe them during the year. 3. The consultants monitor growth habits, fiber quality, maturity dates, yield and other characteristics. 4. It is very important to know how each variety performs in a given area. 5. In the FACT trials that I work with, I like to see at least five to six acres allotted for each variety. This gives us enough cotton to form a module from each variety to gin to get an accurate read on yield and quality. 6. We work closely with D&PL, with whom we have a very good relationship, on these FACT plots.

Tucker Miller
Miller Entomological Service, Inc.
Drew, Miss.

• BS in Agronomy – Mississippi State University
• MS in Pest Management – Mississippi State University
• Started cotton services in 1968
• Consults on cotton, soybeans, corn, milo, sweet corn and
rice in Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Leflore and Quitman counties
• Certified Crop Advisor
• Member and past president, Mississippi Ag Consultants
  Association (MACA)
• Married to wife, Ruth, for 31 years. Two children: Herbert
  Tucker Miller, IV and Emily Miller Waters
• Enjoys following Mississippi State athletics, hunting
  and gardening

Deltapine’s Field Advancement Cotton Trial (FACT) testing program is a variety trial focusing on varieties in the new product pipeline, yet to be commercialized.

Consultants plant these new varieties on a grower’s farm to observe how they grow and to understand the various characteristics each offers. We are looking at all the different traits, whether it is Bollgard II®, Roundup Ready® Flex, nectarless varieties, etc. We also monitor growth habits, fiber quality, maturity dates, yield, etc. This program gives consultants an opportunity to observe all of these characteristics and observe how the varieties will fit in their regions.

To have confidence in a new variety and plant it on significant acreage on a client’s farm takes a growing season’s worth of observations on the above factors. We are able to see how the cotton performs in our situations with regard to insect pressure, weed pressure, disease, maturity dates and, of course, yield. Once we see how these varieties perform in our area, we are able to make educated decisions to recommend these varieties to our growers. We also are able to observe how plant growth regulators perform on these different varieties.

I want hands-on experience with a cotton variety as soon as it has been in an Extension variety trial or a company trial. We need to get the variety in our hands as soon as possible, so we can evaluate it in our area, and the Deltapine FACT Trials give us that opportunity. It is very important to know how each variety performs in a given area whether that would be Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia or any other cotton-producing state.

In the cotton FACT trials that I work with, I like to see at least five to six acres allotted for each variety. That is a large enough acreage to obtain a module, which means it would be enough cotton from each variety to gin to get an accurate yield and get an accurate read on quality. We work closely with Monsanto’s Delta and Pine Land business and are able to ask them questions, give our opinions and advice from looking at these FACT plots and make recommendations as to how the varieties fit in our area. D&PL and consultants have a very good relationship.