Nick King
King’s Ag Consulting
Yazoo City, Miss.

 
When it comes to consulting, I have to admit that my dad, Virgil King, has taught me everything I know.

I began scouting fields with him in 1997, graduated from college in 2006 and came home and began consulting full-time. We consult in the Mississippi Delta along the foot of the hills, on cotton, corn, soybeans and peanuts. The 2010 cotton crop in our area turned out to be one of the best cotton crops we have ever had. It is an exciting time in cotton farming. The price of cotton has been in a slump for so long that it’s encouraging to see the cotton market running up.

Crop rotation played a vital role in the high yields we saw in 2010. Ten years ago, cotton was the primary crop on our farms, and cotton was grown in the same fields year after year. However, in the past several years with other commodities bringing good prices, we have had corn and soybeans on a lot of our acres. The crop rotation was overdue in our area and paid off big in 2010. I believe that a good crop rotation plan will be a part of future farm plans.

We are having grower meetings, and the same question is asked at every one of them. What varieties should we plant? Unfortunately, in our area we have a limited amount of proven cotton varieties from which to choose. As varieties are coming onto the market so fast with limited research, we are sticking with varieties that we have seen or varieties that have supporting research in our area.

One topic that is burning on everyone’s mind is glyphosate weed resistance. We have been very fortunate in that we have not had major, widespread problems with glyphosate-resistant weeds at this time. But they do exist, and we are seeing more and more fields that are developing problems. For several years now, we have seen glyphosate-resistant horseweed and are beginning to see more and more pigweeds escaping our Roundup treatments.

Because our area has not had a significant outbreak of resistant weeds, most growers have not implemented a sound, residual herbicide program. Our farmers have continued to rely on the Roundup technology for their weed control.

As we have watched the Palmer pigweed move closer and closer to our area, there is no time to waste in implementing a residual herbicide plan. If you wait until you have a problem, you are too late.

We are being proactive with our producers to make them aware of the situation and stress to them the importance of a sound residual herbicide program for the growing weed resistance problems.

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

• B.S. in Accounting – Mississippi College
• Studied entomology at Mississippi State University
• Scouted fields with his dad, Virgil King, in 1997
• Began consulting full-time in 2006 on cotton, corn,
soybeans and peanuts
• Member of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants
Association (MACA)
• Board member of the Mississippi Agricultural
Consultants Association
• Married to wife, Ann. Two children: son, McCarty, and
daughter, Virginia
• Enjoys the outdoors – especially hunting and fishing –
and spending time with his family