Texan Taps Into Network Of Advisers By Carroll Smith Editor Dimmitt is a small town on the Old Ozark Trail in the Texas Panhandle and is known as the home of bluegrass musicians Smokey, Edd and Herbert Mayfield. Cotton producer Bill Myatt...

Farmers now have access to the breakthrough technology of Enlist cotton in 2016. As part of the Enlist weed control system, the Enlist cotton trait represents the most innovative advancements in weed control technology for the cotton industry. Enlist cotton provides exceptional crop tolerance to Enlist Duo herbicide — a combination of glyphosate and new 2,4-D choline — and full tolerance to glufosinate herbicides. “We have a level of glufosinate tolerance now that is comparable to the other products that you see in the marketplace,” says Chris Main, Ph.D., PhytoGen cotton development specialist for the Upper Mid-South. “In 2016, cotton farmers will have the option to apply glufosinate over the top of these varieties with confidence since the glufosinate tolerance has been increased.” Growers such as Virginia-based Mike Griffin participated in the 2015 Enlist cotton grower research plots. He understands the importance of new technology and is ready to use the Enlist system on more acres. “The Enlist system specifically has been brought forward to help control weed species that have been unmanageable,” he says. “We look forward to using this technology to help us with resistant and hard-to-control weeds.” What other efforts are targeting economic improvement? Early in 2015, the NCC sought relief from the onerous payment limit provisions of the 2014 farm law by urging Congress to restore USDA’s authority to allow marketing loan redemptions with commodity certificates. Fortunately, commodity certificates were restored in the omnibus appropriations act approved late in 2015. Redemptions with certificates are applicable to the 2015 crop, and any marketing loan gains under certificate redemptions do not apply...

It has been almost a year and a half since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two violations for noise in South Texas. Two cotton gins were cited for noise levels, and OSHA is saying it wants these...

ARIZONA There are many decisions made by a grower over the course of a cotton-growing season, but few have as significant and lasting impact on the final outcome of the crop than variety selection. This is a decision that will...

By Carroll Smith Editor The red brick building that stands at 221 North Main St. in Como, Miss., has housed the Taylor family’s business since 1900. What was once a bustling general store with an office tucked in the back is...

The National Cotton Council recently seized an opportunity to tell a key Congressional panel about the dire economic and regulatory challenges facing the U.S. cotton industry. What was the venue? The early December hearing was conducted by the House Agriculture Committee’s General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Testifying were: NCC Vice Chairman Shane Stephens, a Greenwood, Miss., warehouser; NCC Producer Directors Shawn Holladay, Lubbock, Texas; and Cannon Michael, Los Banos, Calif.; and two other producer leaders: Kent Wannamaker, president, Southern Cotton Growers, Saint Matthews, S.C.; and Nathan Reed, Arkansas state chairman, American Cotton Producers, Marianna. They were joined by Mike Wright, executive vice president, Agricultural Lending for City Bank, Lubbock. Where do the challenges lie? Vice Chairman Stephens detailed the current economic conditions characterized by reduced acreage, struggling cotton demand and the lowest prices since 1989. Providing an agricultural lender perspective, Wright painted a bleak picture for the Subcommittee saying that with margins getting tighter every year due to higher production costs and lower commodity prices – producers need above-average yields just to break even. There is no doubt, he stated, that some cotton farmers will not qualify for financing next year, and the ability to obtain financing will become increasingly more difficult as crop prices remain low. Wright’s testimony was reinforced by Reed who testified that production costs in the Mid-South have risen continually over the past decade and he feared that region is at a tipping point. Reed cautioned that once the infrastructure of gins, warehouses and related businesses are gone, they are not likely to return.

A sense of place is a combination of the physical and the abstract. In physical terms, it can be a country, a community or, on a smaller scale, a neighborhood, a house or even a particular room. Some “place”...

I’m not certain whether other farm kids felt the way I did growing up. We lived several miles “south of town” and, when I was young, it seemed like the most isolated place on earth. Daddy always said I...

Tony Cox always has an infectious laugh that seems to settle into a warm smile. Farming just outside of Wellington, Texas, since he was a teenager, Tony had a lot to smile about during last year’s harvest as he stepped out of his pickup truck and pointed toward his field of DP 1518 B2XF that lived up to the saying, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” Located 15 miles from the Texas-Oklahoma border and 25 miles from Memphis (Texas, that is), Cox learned to farm from a good farmer and a good man – his father. “Dad always had excellent insight whether he was giving me advice on farming or about life in general. I remember when I thought college was the best career path for me, but he told me if I didn’t bear down and apply myself, I wouldn’t be going to college. He knew my propensity for ‘having a good time,’ and it turned out, he was right,” laughs Cox, shaking his head and confirming his father’s early intuitive observation. So, when Tony’s senior year of high school rolled around, he found himself heading back home to the farm every day after class, and with no regrets, he has been farming ever since.

The expansive fields of defoliated cotton on Davis Family Farms in Doerun, Ga., caused 51-year-old Bart Davis to sit back in his pickup truck, take a deep breath, exhale and smile. The farmer and father of three with 34 cotton crops under his belt was thrust into farming’s center stage when he was only 18-years-old after both his mother and father passed away in a span of six months. “That was a tough period in my life. I’ll be honest with you, I was scared,” remembers Davis. He was a high school senior. Luckily, he had earned nearly all of his credits and had to attend classes only one quarter that year. Davis never played sports because his life revolved around school and the family farm. At the time, his father was farming between 1,200 and 1,500 acres before complications from diabetes caused declining health. By the fall of 1981, he was diagnosed with cancer. “I love this time of the year. It’s a big relief to see those harvesters running down straight rows of three-plus bale cotton,” says Davis, with a great sense of relief in his voice as his son confirmed from the picker a yield monitor reading of nearly 2,000 pounds.

Over the past few months with the increased presence of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in many industries, the question is continuing to come up: What is your safety program? As we’ve been working with our members, their...

Improved fiber quality, stable high-yield performance and a better weed control system are among the solutions being brought to market with four new Deltapine Class of 16 cotton varieties. Announced on Dec. 12 to more than 140 farmers at the...

Cotton Researcher D.D. ‘Dick’ Hardee Dies In Greenville, Miss. Dr. D.D. (Dick) Hardee, well-known cotton entomologist, passed away Nov. 19, 2015. He was 77 years old. Dick began his 40-year career as an entomologist in 1964 when he accepted a position...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reminds farmers and ranchers that the next general enrollment period for the Conservation Reserve Program ends on Feb. 26, 2016. Also, December 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of CRP, a federally funded program that assists...

Farmers can improve irrigation efficiency by understanding the environmental factors that affect their operation and by using technology to make better decisions, experts with the LSU AgCenter and National Resources Conservation Services said at a recent workshop. Temperature, humidity, solar...