The National Agricultural Statistics Service October Crop Production report estimated Arkansas cotton production to be at 1,088 pounds lint per acre, unchanged from last month but down 4 pounds from 2015. This exceeds our 5-year average of 1,073 pounds lint per acre by 15 pounds. Our crop continues to be ahead of schedule. As about half of our crop has been harvested this season, the 5-year average for the same date was just shy of 30 percent harvested. Reports of fiber quality have been good. Lack of rainfall during much of the harvest season has resulted in excellent color grades. Just over 45 percent has received a color grade of 31 or better. About 80 percent of the bales classed have a leaf grade of 4 or less. Micronaire values this season have averaged 4.6 with less than 17 percent in the discount range of 5 or greater. In Arkansas, we generally expect to see our early crop outyield our later crop. This is not what most farmers are experiencing this season. The extended wet and cloudy August weather came just as our early crop was starting to open. Reports of 1.25 to 1.5 bales per acre were heard from our early cotton as the occurrence of boll rot and hard lock was great. Fortunately, yields improved as harvest progressed. Our good fields are yielding in excess of 3 bales per acre. The 4-bale yield potential we had in many fields the first part of August slipped away.

Clemson agriculture experts provide post-hurricane updates from around the state. “Hurricane Matthew, which crushed the Caribbean and then blasted the coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina, certainly took no pity on South Carolina during its relentless march.”

My Favorite MARtian This essay is a brief description of the contributions to cotton farmers made by my major professor, mentor and friend, Luther S. Bird, Ph.D., professor of genetics and of plant pathology, Texas A&M University, College Station. Dr....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1HVW-O89E What sets apart varieties with XtendFlex® traits? Deltapine® NPE grower Kevin Gardner, of Mocksville, SC, says that his Bollgard II® XtendFlex® varieties enabled him to have to cleanest fields he’s had in years. Through the Deltapine New Product Evaluator (NPE) Program,...

Presidential Candidates Answer Farmers’ & Ranchers’ Questions Every four years, the American Farm Bureau Federation asks the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees to address the issues that concern farmers and ranchers the most. The organization asked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton...

Ginners need to be ready for anything. It happens almost every year. Some kind of adverse weather or harvest condition complicates an already hectic job. It seems like gin season will never get here, and then all of a sudden...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTeXyPi-7jY How do programs like Roundup Ready PLUS® Crop Management Solutions benefit your farm? Deltapine® NPE grower Glen Lyon, of Morton, Texas, explains why combating weed resistance in his area is a top priority. Through the Deltapine New Product Evaluator (NPE) Program,...

It’s business as usual for Monheim, Germany-based Bayer as it continues the process of acquiring St. Louis-based Monsanto Inc. “One of the key points is we are investing and operating as Bayer today, and that will continue because we don’t know what the future holds,” Lee Rivenbark, who heads Bayer’s North American Seed Operations, told attendees of the company’s recent cotton field day near Idalou, Texas. “We’re committed to this acquisition. We believe it’s good for the farmer.” Although Rivenbark admitted the company still has several hurdles to overcome in the coming months, he says the goal is to have the deal finalized by the end of 2017. As Bayer has done in the past, he says the new combined company will continue to invest 10 percent of sales into research and development. Rivenbank highlighted a few of the recent investments Bayer has made as evidence of the company’s commitment to the cotton industry. The Idalou research station plans to close in about a week, and the equipment and personnel will be moved to a new, state-of-the-art breeding and trait development facility built closer to Lubbock near Loop 289. It’s also near the Texas Tech University fabric lab. Bayer also has invested in a multi-million 76,200-square-foot fuzzy seed storage facility near Ransom Canyon about 20 miles southeast of Lubbock. In addition, the company in the coming weeks plans to open a state-of-the-art research and breeding facility near Albany, Ga., and has increased its greenhouse space in Memphis, Tenn.

ARKANSAS A great deal of uncertainty still exists regarding the 2016 crop. We look forward to seeing how the modules stack up. During the first week of August, almost everyone in the field felt we had the potential for a...

“The UAS (‘Drone’) Rules Are Here” is authored by Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist in Amarillo and nationally recognized author of the Texas Agriculture Law Blog. Lashmet provides a summary of the long-awaited Federal Aviation...

Over the past few years, we have seen a significant number of Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections in Texas. One reason for the uptick is the much higher number of injuries being reported to OSHA in response to...

Cotton acreage in the West is up over last year, but a number of gin closings in important cotton production areas are putting a limit on how much cotton can be produced on some of the most productive agricultural...

Farmers use crop insurance to protect themselves against risk — primarily against crop failure and low market prices. In the United States, the federal crop insurance program has grown steadily since the mid-1990s and become the single largest individual program providing support to farmers under the 2014 Farm Act. Growth in crop insurance programs — both in the United States and in developing countries — appears to be driven in part by premium subsidies from governments. Unlike previous research on the topic, which emphasizes a farmer’s attitude toward risk as the primary driver of insurance uptake, this report analyzes the relationship between wealth, savings and insurance over time to identify alternative approaches to managing farm risk. What Did The Study Find? When farm households consider multiple growing seasons, insurance and savings are substitutes. Demand for insurance will fall as the interest rate on savings rises; similarly, farmers will save more and insure less as insurance premium rates increase. The exception is among farm households that are less wealthy; when wealth is low to start, additional savings complements insurance, allowing households to be able to afford to pay an insurance premium when they do not yet have enough savings to completely self-insure. Demand for crop insurance, when examined over multiple years, is primarily driven by the farmer’s financial wealth rather than the farmer’s attitude toward risk. Both uptake of insurance and choice of coverage levels are heavily determined by the producer’s income and savings. Crop insurance is in low demand at both

Although export of raw cotton has become essential to U.S. cotton producers’ economic well-being, the National Cotton Council continues its longstanding work for our domestic textile industry. How about assistance in the legislative arena? n A major effort is the NCC’s work to maintain the highly successful “Economic Assistance to Users of Upland Cotton” program first introduced in 2008 farm law and reauthorized in the 2014 bill. This program makes a payment of 3 cents per pound to U.S. textile manufacturers for all upland cotton consumed. Payments must be used for specific purposes such as acquisition, construction, installation, modernization, development, conversion, or expansion of land, plant buildings, equipment, facilities or machinery. More recently, the NCC has been working with the Washington D.C.-based National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and key lawmakers to make sure the Berry Amendment is not weakened in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act. That Amendment requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to purchase textiles and apparel made with 100 percent U.S. fiber and labor. Likewise, the NCC, NCTO and others have conveyed to lawmakers the critical need for Export-Import Bank Reauthorization. The Ex-Im Bank provides important financing for the U.S. textile industry and its ability to export products.

New Mississippi Facility Exceeds Wildest Dreams By Carroll Smith Editor Tucked away in Noxubee County, Miss., about 1½ miles down Deerbrook Road, Bogue Chitto Gin Inc. is an impressive testimony to area producers’ faith in cotton. The 25 stockholders settled on the...