Seventy-eight growers from across Texas, New Mexico and California qualified for BASF’s FiberMax One Ton Club based on their 2020 harvest. The program, recognizes growers who harvest 4 bales or greater yields per acre using FiberMax cotton varieties, has qualified 1,215 members during its 16-year history.
Several members also received special awards in five categories for the 2020 season:
• Highest yield and highest gross value: Apple Creek Farms Inc. in Garden City, Texas, harvested an average yield of 2,538.52 pounds per acre with FM 2398GLTP and earned a gross value of $1,451.53 per acre.
• Most acres and most varieties: H Bar H Farms in Dalhart, Texas, harvested an average yield of 2,099.52 pounds per acre on 431 acres with FM 1621GL, FM 1888GL and FM 2398GLTP.
• Highest loan value: Kendall and Ruthie Holdeman in Saragosa, Texas, garnered 57.32 cents on their qualifying acres with FM 2574GLT.
“There is a unique quality to the One Ton Club member that makes this group of cotton growers so special: toughness,” said Rachel Walters, BASF cottonseed marketing manager. “No matter what’s happening in the world or on their farms, they take challenges head on and achieve impressive results. It’s a characteristic we strive to emulate with our FiberMax cotton seed, too – the ability to achieve superior fiber quality and high yield potential even in the toughest conditions.”
Members who qualified for the One Ton Club also were eligible to win a two-year lease on a Ford Super Duty F-350 King Ranch truck. This year’s winners were Charles and Janet Braden of B&P Farms Inc. in Garden City, Texas.
To qualify for the One Ton Club, growers had to meet the following criteria:
• Produce a minimum of 2,000 pounds of ginned cotton per acre on a minimum of 20 acres planted with FiberMax cotton seed from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020.
• Plant 100% FiberMax cotton seed on the 20 qualifying acres.
• Farm in one of the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
• Provide gin recap sheets to verify 2,000 pounds per-acre yield.
While members and their families were not able to celebrate in person due to the pandemic, their achievements were acknowledged through a video below highlighting the many families that make up the One Ton Club.
BASF provided information for this article.