Production

Walmart has joined the Cotton LEADS program supporting responsible production practices by cotton producers. “Cotton is a major ingredient in many of our apparel and home textile products,” says Ken Lanshe, Walmart’s vice president, general merchandise, technical, quality and sustainability. “Through...

Properly cleaning and servicing the cotton picker each night or morning will result in better performance and lower potential of fire throughout the day. Most producers do a thorough cleaning from top to bottom before greasing, adding fluids, and...

Strategic Thinking Keeps Cotton In The Mix By Carroll Smith Editor Mississippi author David L. Cohn once said, “The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg.” This region is proud...

Protect yield and quality from cotton insect pests. By Carroll Smith Editor The boll weevil was a legendary cotton pest that tortured farmers for years. “Wanted” posters featuring the insect’s “mug shot” adorned the walls of many farm offices in South...

Cotton and quail reflect the Southern traditions of this southwest Georgia operation By Carroll Smith, Editor When he was 18 years old, Larron Copeland purchased 30 acres from his father and began shaping what is now known as Showtime Farms in...

Missouri’s Rone Family Strives For Efficiency By Tommy Horton Defoliating and harvesting a cotton crop is like painting a picture. Unless everything is mixed together perfectly, the finished product won’t be that good. Some have even suggested that the entire exercise...

Missouri Pollinator Conservancy’s Future Goals Protect bees from pesticide drift problems. Promote dialogue among all industry groups. Specifically protect 400 species of bees in Missouri. Prove that the state can solve the problem by itself. Preserve bees’ contribution to value of crops. A new program...

Delta’s Justin Cariker Remains Committed To Reliable Crop The facts are clear. Cotton prices are a lot lower now than any farmer could have imagined several months ago. A year ago, everyone felt very positive about 80- to 85-cent prices. Today,...

It is another tool in the toolbox for cotton farmers. It will definitely help us out and is something that we need.” – Tucker Miller One fact is clear about today’s cotton production. Numerous strategies exist to deal with glyphosate-resistant...

Cotton Incorporated and the Cooperative Extension cotton specialists across the Belt have partnered to combine field variety trial data in a single webbased resource called SeedMatrix. This online program provides access to new variety performance data. It is just one...

Stan Winslow of Belvidere, N.C., winner of the 2014 Cotton Consultant of the Year (CCOY) award, was honored by his peers at a special reception last month at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio. A crowd of more than 150 attended the event at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel. The award is co-sponsored by Cotton Farming and Syngenta. Winslow and his wife Lou Ann, along with nine family members, were in attendance. Publisher Lia Guthrie joined Syngenta’s Josh Kelley in presenting the traditional CCOY winner’s green jacket and special plaque to Winslow. “I have to say that this is easily the highlight of my career,” Winslow said in accepting the award. “It’s just a very special honor to be a member of this group of previous winners.” Winslow is the president of Tidewater Agronomics, which he started in 1998. He also is a past president of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants and the North Carolina Ag Consultants Association.

Everyone producing cotton, especially in the Mid- South, remembers the days not so long ago when Temik (a carbamate pesticide) was used in our furrows as the main line of defense against thrips. Everyone knows how careful one had...

Every cotton producer has his own special way of growing the crop each year. You might say that South Carolina’s Jason Waltz has an unusual – but effective – approach. He does it all and rarely relies on anybody else for advice. In today’s environment where farmers lean on consultants, marketing experts, scouts, entomologists and agronomists, Waltz is a one man show. He wears all the hats. Think about that for a moment. Here is a young farmer who grew up watching his father Glen deliver a crop each year in the St. Matthews area, just southeast of Columbia, S.C.

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...

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...