Recent passage of a Congressional act may bring relief to farmers who experienced crop losses due to drought in 2018 and 2019. In December 2019, Congress passed the FY2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, making crop production losses due to “quality losses of crops, drought and excessive soil moisture” in crop years 2018 and 2019 eligible for Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity ... Read More »
For the second straight year, Arkansas’ “ginning season” may go into extra innings. Despite the wet weather delays, growers had good reason to be optimistic about their 2019 crop, said Bill Robertson, Extension cotton agronomist, and Scott Stiles, Extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The optimism is palpable, taking the form of a bale backlog ... Read More »
• By Vicky Boyd, Managing Editor • Dr. Dan Fromme, who grew up on a Texas cotton farm and has been working in cotton most of his life, was recognized as the 2020 Cotton Specialist of the Year during the recent Beltwide Cotton Conferences in Austin, Texas. A professor and state Extension specialist in cotton, corn and grain sorghum at ... Read More »
PhytoGen Horizon Network growers will plant the industry’s first reniform-resistant cottonseed varieties in 2020. A first for the cotton industry, these three PhytoGen pre-commercial varieties include the PhytoGen Breeding Trait for reniform resistance, which offers naturally occurring native traits for built-in, season-long protection. During the 2019 season, company cotton development specialists conducted on-farm trials evaluating the trait. The reniform-resistant varieties ... Read More »
• By Vicky Boyd, Managing Editor • BASF plans to launch one new cotton variety for the 2020 season, sticking to its belief that any new release should offer a benefit over existing ones. “We tested five experimental lines last year and we’ll be launching just one,” said Kenny Melton, BASF western region agronomic manager. “We want to make sure ... Read More »
Farmers are aware of the benefits of soil health. However, the difficulty in quantifying soil health, diminishing availability of land that results in higher land prices, the time necessary to improve soil health, and the need to turn a profit often discourage farmers from adopting soil health promoting practices. Dr. Erin Kiella, an assistant research economist with the Real Estate ... Read More »
In 2019, Mississippi’s agricultural industry faced the prospect of dipping below $7 billion for the first time in eight years, but federal payments pushed its value up enough to post a slight gain over 2018. The estimated value of Mississippi agriculture in 2019 is $7.39 billion, a 0.2% gain from last year’s $7.37 billion. Included in the total is an ... Read More »
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