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 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 –...
If you want to sell something for the highest possible price, you should try a method that dates back to around 500 B.C. That’s around the time humans first used auctions as a means to a higher price. Your...
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.
The troublesome plant bug is a cotton insect pest that is persistent – or so it seems. There is simply no other way to describe this devilish bug. It has always been around, but when the boll weevil eradication...
Arkansas Producer Sam Stuckey's Crop
Has Weathered The Storm
Cotton has always had a reputation for being able to withstand a lot of adversity during a long production season. If you want proof of that statement, pay a visit to the...
Nematodes – those microscopic pests that attack a plant's roots and adversely affect cotton yields – can cause enough headaches for a farmer to last a lifetime. Whether it's reniform or root-knot, this pest can often go undetected...
The chief executive officer of Levis Strauss, Chip Bergh, recently made headlines by sharing some unusual advice for those of us who wear denim jeans.
What is his advice? Don't wash your jeans, ever.
He says keeping jeans out of the...
In a cascade of notices, the California Water Resources Control Board told junior water rights holders in the state's major watersheds recently to immediately stop diverting water. The board says extreme drought leaves the watersheds without enough water to...
There seems to be a never-ending list of government proposals that would make routine agricultural practices difficult or impossible to perform – and the latest from two federal agencies could bring a raft of new requirements aimed squarely at...
Thrips are tiny, but mighty, insects that have the ability to delay maturity and damage cotton in the very early stages of growth, and, if not controlled properly, reduce lint yield at harvest.
Gus Lorenz, University of Arkansas entomologist,...
Right now our cotton on the Coastal Bend is in the squaring stage of development. At this point, the primary pest that we worry about the most is the cotton fleahopper. This is a traditional pest that you'll find in the eastern and southern part of the state – and certainly more so than in the High Plains.
The Cotton Board recently conducted its March Annual Meeting in Santa Fe., N.M., where board members, in their respective committees, reviewed Cotton Incorporated’s proposed plans for 2015 and developed strategic recommendations. The meeting was well attended by both producer...
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will make $6 million in grants available this year, and up to $30 million total over the next five years as part of a...
