Features

• By Yangxuan Liu • Since the first diagnosis of COVID-19, the spread of the pandemic worldwide has negatively affected global economic growth. According to the latest release by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global economic growth will decline by 6% to 7.6% in 2020, depending on whether there is a second wave of infections. Similar trends ... Read More »

Lee Nunn of Madison, Georgia, planted his first wheat crop on 50 acres of his wife’s family farm when it became available to rent just over a dozen years ago. He quickly realized his passion for farming and began renting more land, now growing wheat, soybeans, field peas, corn and cotton on more than 1,500 acres. Nunn’s relatively quick success ... Read More »

• By Kay Ledbetter • Texas A&M AgriLife is developing an inexpensive and easy-to-use mobile app and irrigation management system to help agricultural producers increase water-use efficiency and continue producing cotton. The new project is funded by the Texas A&M Water Seed Grant Initiative and is titled “A Novel Sensor- and Crop-Model-Based Decision Support Tool for Efficient Irrigation Management.” The ... Read More »

Editor’s note: Two new cotton specialists, Drs. Ben McKnight and Brian Pieralisi, have been appointed by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Mississippi State Extension Service, respectively. Be sure to check out their comments each month in our Specialists Speaking department. Ben McKnight Ben McKnight’s acceptance of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist position is a return ... Read More »

• By Amanda Huber, Southeast Editor • This year can hardly be described as “normal” by any sense of the word. Therefore, it is no surprise that weather has been variable as well. Early season temperatures were at or below normal, with low evapotranspiration rates and adequate rainfall across most parts of the state, says David Hall, University of Georgia ... Read More »

In the arid regions of the desert Southwest, water is by far the most limiting resource for crop production systems. As such, it is an extremely valuable resource to producers and an incentive to conserve and use with utmost efficiency. Irrigation and crop production systems in the desert Southwest have evolved to include techniques that conserve water resources and improve ... Read More »

Industry Focuses On Prevention To Reduce Growing Plastic Contamination Issue • By Vicky Boyd, Managing Editor • Plastic contamination has long been the bane of the U.S. cotton industry, which prides itself on producing a clean, quality product. Efforts to reduce the problem have redoubled in the past few years as plastic contamination continues to grow, partly due to new ... Read More »