Are there things about history that can help us today? Or is it better to stay in the present and concentrate only on the future? I ask myself those questions a lot these days as the U.S. cotton industry tries to chart a path toward better prices, increased acreage and more demand in global markets.
Not surprisingly, I was thumbing through some old issues of Cotton Farming recently and came across the January 2003 issue, and it made me think about the environment we were in 12 years ago. On the cover is a photo of Memphis merchant Billy Dunavant, manufacturer Duke Kimbrell of Parkdale Mills and Mississippi producer Kenneth Hood. They were standing in front of the National Cotton Council offices in Memphis, and the theme of that issue was “Industry Unity.”
I can vividly recall the day that we took that photo and the ensuing roundtable interview that occurred inside the NCC’s offices. We were lucky to bring together three industry giants that day. The weather cooperated and allowed us to take the photo outside the iconic NCC building in midtown Memphis.
Do you ever wonder if the rest of the country really appreciates the plight of cotton farmers? Maybe that’s a ridiculous question. But it’s still intriguing to hear how the national media recently reported on a tropical storm in...
If you ever worried about the next generation of cotton industry leaders, you can relax. Maybe that’s an overly confident remark to make in 2015. However, based on what I recently observed at a media panel discussion with members of the new Emerging Leaders Class program, the future has never looked better.
This program, now in its third year, is supported by a grant to The Cotton Foundation from Monsanto. The National Cotton Council (NCC) conducts the program’s activities, and the goal is to provide participants a better understanding of how the NCC carries out its mission. Members of this class will participate in three sessions during the next year.
The first session involved media training in Memphis and a trip to Monsanto’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis. The second session will consist of a trip to the NCC’s Annual Meeting in February where class members will observe how the organization develops policy. The third session will involve a trip to Washington where the focus will be on policy implementation and international market development.
John Norman
John Norman Ag Consultation
Weslaco, Texas
My first work in pest management in cotton, other than the farm I was raised on in Cameron County, was with the USDA at Brownsville, helping to read results from insecticide trials. All...
One reason I like production agriculture is because no two years are ever alike. You have to muster all your agronomic skills to deal with the crazy situations that Mother Nature hands to you. This year’s craziness has been continuous rainfall at planting time when we were supposed to be experiencing a drought.
We received so much rain that fields were planted piecemeal as opportunities arose. In many cases, planting opportunities boiled down to having only a few hours in which to plant rather than several consecutive days.
This is the first time in my 35 years as an agricultural consultant in the Plainview, Texas, area that rainfall has delayed cotton planting to the extent that many producers made the decision to switch from cotton to sorghum or corn because the probability of maturing an irrigated cotton crop that was planted in June was significantly diminished.So, what’s next? On the positive side, most areas are starting with a full soil profile of moisture. This will be beneficial to all crops we grow. But, if drought conditions do arrive later in the season, a full soil profile at planting will be of little consequence without timely in-season rains or irrigations.
Featured New Product Evaluator: James Kamas, from Temple, Texas
https://youtu.be/CkktnyFB2kc
Monsanto’s Learning Center in Scott, Mississippi, researches and develops new cotton varieties that are tailored to different soils throughout the Cotton Belt. Deltapine NPE James Kamas, of Temple, Texas, says that...
The EPA just finalized one of the biggest land grabs in American history.
Under the Clean Water Rule, all "tributaries" will be categorically regulated by the federal government. Tributaries — which quite literally mean anything with a bed, banks and...
(Nashville, North Carolina) – The Tidewater Agricultural Research & Extension Center in Suffolk, Virginia, will host their 2015 Cotton Field Day on August 11, beginning at 8 a.m. A broad range of cotton discipline research findings will be presented...
ICA Bremen’s new and improved testing laboratory will be officially opened on Thursday 25 June 2015, at 14:45 by the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller.
Based at its existing location in Bremen’s Cotton Exchange Building, the upgraded...
Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway delivered remarks on the House floor in favor of H.R. 1314, a bill that advances Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). With 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside the U.S., it...
INDIANAPOLIS — June 1, 2015 — PhytoGen® is pleased to announce the addition of Ken Legé to the growing team of cotton development specialists (CDS). Legé will provide valuable agronomic advice, cottonseed recommendations, and consulting expertise to cotton growers in the...
05/31/2015 04:49 PM
05/31/2015 04:54 PM
Image by Jason Davis
By Staff
[email protected], TX – Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers on Friday said in a weekly newsletter that many local farmers are working any available hours, day or night, to get crops planted in...
