On Dec. 3, 2016, Team Cotton participated in the St. Jude Marathon Weekend race events in Memphis, Tenn. Team Cotton had 25 runners representing The Cotton Board, Cotton Incorporated, USDA and the National Cotton Council. Team Cotton members traveled...

Among challenges to the U.S. cotton industry’s competitiveness are securing an improved safety net for producers, making inroads against the competition from man-made fibers, maintaining U.S. cotton’s supply chain reputation and averting burdensome regulations. Is cottonseed policy attainable? Obtaining cottonseed eligibility...

The origin of the crystal ball is most often attributed to the Celtic Druids, an ancient group of educated people purported to be from Gaul, a region in Western Europe. It’s hard to distinguish truth from myth when it...

Monitoring soil moisture and scheduling irrigation doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective, as one Texas High Plains grower finds. By Vicky Boyd Managing Editor When it comes to soil moisture monitoring, David Carter of Levelland, Texas, likes to keep...

When I was approached about writing this month’s “My Turn” column, I was very honored, then quickly very humbled once I saw some of the amazing authors who had gone before me. I am a fairly ordinary guy who...

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.

Let’s go straight to the Presidential election… Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. If you predicted Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States, you outsmarted most of the prognosticators this election. Going into Election Night, most...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrlKANtEeO4 Why do you use Roundup Ready PLUS® Crop Management Solutions? Deltapine® NPE grower Kevin Gardner, of Mocksville, SC, says that Roundup Ready PLUS® Crop Management Solutions provides him with the guidelines and cash back incentives he needs to stay profitable. Through...

Now is the time to send in your nomination for the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association Ginner of the Year. This is the highest honor a gin manager can receive by peers in the industry. Guidelines for the selection of Ginner...

EPA Approves XtendiMax Herbicide With VaporGrip Technology For In-Crop Use The Environmental Protection Agency has approved XtendiMax herbicide with VaporGrip Technology, a low-volatility dicamba formulation, for in-crop use with Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton. Farmers...

Editor’s Note: The Southern Southeastern Annual Meeting will be held Jan. 18-22, 2017, at The Westin in Charlotte, N.C. This organization represents cotton growers and ginners throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Every year, more...

Sixteen years ago, I was a college student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, two hours away from my family’s cotton and peanut farm on the Texas Rolling Plains, searching for long-term significance – and a part-time job. As I...

Tennessee cotton consultant wins the $20,000 Transform My Community grand prize for the Gibson County Carl Perkins Center. By Carroll Smith Editor “A hundred years from now, nobody will remember who I was, what I did or how much money I...

Considering the present value of projected net cash flows relative to an initial investment is a useful capital budgeting application By Kelly Lange Texas Tech University Agricultural production often requires significant investment in assets, such as tractors, irrigation systems and land....

A sold-out audience of the most influential executives in the global cotton fiber and textile business, representing 26 countries, attended the ninth Sourcing USA Summit last month in California. Who conducts the Summit? Cotton Council International (CCI) hosts the biennial Summit...