According to the ancient Roman calendar, which recognized only 10 months by name, March denoted the beginning of the year. One theory is that it was given this designation to coincide with the onset of the agricultural cycle. December,...

The 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) can help its attendees improve production, processing and marketing efficiency by providing them with insight into the latest available tools and research findings. Those planning to attend the concurrent conferences, set for Jan. 4-6...

Cotton research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Ariz., ensures that systems benefitting agriculture in arid and semi-arid Western regions are also important throughout the United States. The Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center...

Commentary By Blake Hurst Missouri Farm Bureau When the elections are over and the U.S. Congress returns to work, it’s time for regulatory reform. Why should that be a top priority of the new Congress? Well, let’s talk about Charlie and John. Charlie...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cotton Incorporated’s Blue Jeans Go Green denim recycling program, an initiative that diverts denim garments from landfills and upcycles them. Manufacturing partner Bonded Logic Inc. in Chandler, Ariz., turns them into UltraTouch...

The new Farmer of the Year was selected by three judges who visited his farm and the farms of other state winners during early August. The judges this year included Clark Garland, longtime University of Tennessee Extension agricultural economist from Maryville, Tenn.; farmer Thomas Porter Jr., of Concord, N.C., who was the overall winner in 2011; and Charles Snipes, retired Extension weed scientist from Greenville, Miss. Garland says Wildy impressed the judges with his innovative farm management and crop marketing practices. “David is an outstanding manager of land, labor, production inputs and capital,” he says. “His diversified farming operation features a wide assortment of high-yielding and profitable agronomic crops.” The judges were also impressed with how members of the Wildy family have been able to strengthen agriculture in the Southeast by sharing their farming resources with the research and education communities. “Wildy family members hold key positions in this farming business, and they are responsible for much of the farm’s overall success,” Garland says. “They are consistently achieving their short- and long-term strategic farming goals, and these goals involve the entire family.”

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.

I was watching a college football game recently when a young player, who had not spent much scoring time in the end zone, made an amazing touchdown. He began celebrating in a fashion the official deemed “excessive” and was...

Delivered As Promised The menu of cotton varieties from which to choose in 2017 includes a host of high-yielding, good quality selections. To help you get started, seed companies from across the Cotton Belt provided information about their headliners on...

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...