United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that $29 million is being invested to provide affordable housing for the country’s farm laborers and their family members. Housing is often the first step on the road to more economic prosperity for farmworker families,” Vilsack says. “These loans and grants will significantly improve the lives of farmworkers, who are vital to America’s agriculture sector. This program is one of many tools that USDA has to strengthen the rural economy, which will help bring a brighter future for children from farmworker families.” USDA is providing assistance through the Farm Labor Housing Loan and Grant program. Financing is available to qualified organizations to develop housing for domestic farm laborers. USDA also provides rental assistance to help very low income families afford the monthly rent.
When lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., for a post-election lame-duck session, action on a number of lapsed tax incentives is expected to be at the top of the congressional to-do list. Among the provisions important to farmers and ranchers...
By Tommy Horton, Editor
How important is cotton production in Georgia? And is it still a viable commodity when prices dip into the 60- cent range? Those are legitimate questions to ask any farmer growing the crop in 2014. And...
By Brent Murphree
Roller ginning upland cotton has been a topic of discussion for several years in the Western cotton gin community. This season, as profit margins on short-staple cotton get even tighter, the discussion is gaining increased traction as...
By Tommy Horton
Editor
The Jordan brothers – John, Steve and Mike – are proactive in their approach to cotton production and embracing new technology.
In the midst of challenging weather conditions across much of the Cotton Belt this year, preliminary reports...
The format may have changed somewhat from previous years, but one fact remains consistent about the Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 5-7. Timely information will be offered to attendees, and one of the most...
By Fred Bourland
Keiser, Ark.
EDITOR’S NOTE – Fred Bourland is a cotton breeder and manager of the Northeast Ag Research Station in Keiser, Ark. In the following report, he discusses the important decisions facing a cotton producer when he chooses...
It is a consistent theme each year when cotton seed companies announce their lineups for the new crop season. Some varieties have a longer shelf life than others and remain on the market. Meanwhile, new ones always appear –...
For anyone unfamiliar with cotton production in Mississippi, two primary regions exist – one in the Delta and another in the Hills. They are distinctly different and require special approaches for growing the crop.
The Delta is adjacent to the...
The deflating effects of aflatoxin on cottonseed prices in the West continue to affect producers along the Colorado River and Central Arizona.
Hundred-dollar spreads between clean and unclean seed are not uncommon in a region where seed prices consistently rise above those in the rest of the Cotton Belt. These days, even though cottonseed plays a larger role in the economic mix of the cotton crop, aflatoxin seemingly draws less attention with producers than it does with those who market the cottonseed for them.
Call it the perfect education for pursuing a career in the cotton industry. In fact, you couldn’t find a better description for the International Cotton Institute conducted every summer at the University of Memphis.
The school, which began in 1995, offers an eightweek curriculum that covers every aspect of cotton marketing and production.
Just what is "typical" anyway? That seems to be a debatable question here on the High Plains, where the last three years have been anything but. Even the last good year, 2010, also was not "typical," with the area's highest production and lowest abandonment in recorded history. As executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., a cotton producer organization representing thousands of hard-working farmers in 41 counties on the High Plains, I've noticed...
West Tennessee producer/ginner Richard Kelley has observed many changes in the cotton industry for the past 40 years. In this interview with Cotton Farming, he discusses some of the major issues as harvest and ginning seasons approach. What's uppermost in your mind as ginning season approaches? The thoughts that come to mind are "survival" and the future of cotton in our area. These are challenging times for cotton as we deal with weak demand, larger carryover and lower prices.
I have been fascinated with cotton my entire life. I recall my father, while working on his graduate degree at the USDA Boll Weevil Research Lab in Starkville, Miss., in the late 1960s, returning from a trip to Guatemala and Mexico. He told me of native cotton plants he had seen that were large enough to support a man. At that young age, it was explained to me that cotton was a woody perennial plant that man had modified to grow as an annual. Thus, it is of no surprise that as we prepare to terminate the crop, it tends to resist.
American cotton is considered to have some of the lowest levels of contamination in the world, and that reputation for low contamination levels has come to be expected by foreign and domestic mills. With this low contamination reputation comes...
