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...

United States cotton producers intend to plant 9.549 million acres this year. If realized, this will be 13.5 percent less than 2014 and the lowest acreage since 2009. This decline is not unexpected; cotton prices are low for the...

At times, it appears that the cotton insect landscape changes more quickly than the Dow Jones Industrial numbers on the stock market each day. We blink our eyes, and a new insect has become a serious threat in a region of the Cotton Belt. Or, in other cases, a pest that was dormant for several years suddenly flares and catches everybody by surprise. To the outsider, it’s as if Mother Nature won’t let us off the hook. For example, just because the cotton industry eradicated the boll weevil many years ago doesn’t mean farmers are home free. The next pest threat is just around the corner.

Business owners around the country have joined with farmers and ranchers in speaking out on the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. More than 30 states also oppose the rule. Yet, even in the face of mounting opposition, the...

By Dahlen Hancock: I recently had the good fortune to travel to Asia to celebrate “Cotton Day” events in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand as president of Cotton Council International (CCI). Consumers clearly love their cotton. We celebrate Cotton Days in May because this is the time of the year in the United States when we go back to the fields and plant the seeds that give us cotton, the world’s favorite fiber. It’s a wonderful fiber – a true gift from the earth. This year, Cotton Days publicized the COTTON USA “I Love My Cotton” campaign, which encourages consumers and brands alike to share their own reasons for loving cotton. Cotton Days also celebrated the 26th anniversary of COTTON USA, while illustrating the brand’s genuine, passionate and visionary attributes. One of the aspects I remember most about Cotton Days is the consumers’ irresistible energy and enthusiasm for COTTON USA in the Asian markets I visited. I recall telling CCI staff how I wished I could bottle the energy at each event, and take it back with me to Texas, to share it with my fellow U.S. cotton producers, showing them what we do is highly appreciated. The creativity and excitement generated around U.S. cotton is truly wonderful and a big vote of confidence for our industry.

ARIZONA Early season management of cotton for optimum initiation and retention of fruiting forms is critical to the overall success of the eventual crop. Several factors can contribute to poor early season fruit set, resulting in increased vegetative growth and...

We have made great strides in the last 20 years with the eradication of the boll weevil in almost all parts of the Cotton Belt and the adoption of Bt cotton varieties that substantially control caterpillar pests. However, there are still annual battles with insect and mite pests that require our diligence. Starting at the beginning, thrips management typically requires the use of at-planting insecticides. Almost everyone is using an insecticide seed treatment, and the option for Temik is no longer available. The spreading resistance of tobacco thrips to thiamethoxam, the active ingredient in Cruiser, caught us a little by surprise the last several years. In the Mid-South, this has essentially put an end to the use of Cruiser and other thiamethoxam- based insecticide seed treatments in cotton. We are concerned about going down a similar path with imidacloprid (e.g. Gaucho) as it is being used now almost exclusively.

The Loan Chart has taken a fatal blow. After more than half a century of existence, it simply didn’t have the capacity to adjust to the shifts we saw in this past year. Specifically, there has been no way...

12 Cotton Industry Members Chosen For NCC’s Emerging Leaders Program Twelve U.S. cotton industry members have been chosen to participate in the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) Emerging Leaders Program for 2015-16. Participants include: Producers: Rafe Banks, Clarkedale, Ark. Brandon Brooks, Phoenix, Ariz. Matt Coley,...

A new Farm Bureau advocacy website is giving farmers and ranchers a simple way to “Get a Move On” for GMOs. Launched recently, GetaMoveOn.fb.org allows producers to support a national, science-based labeling standard similar to the approach taken in the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (H.R. 1599). “This website has a very specific function: To motivate farmers and ranchers to take action in support of important innovation in agriculture,” says Andrew Walmsley, American Farm Bureau Federation biotechnology specialist. “Whether you grow corn and soybeans in the Midwest, cotton in the South, dairy and potatoes in the Northeast or apples in the West, access to crop traits that resist pests, diseases

Western cotton producers and pest control specialists are staying alert for changing field conditions because of this season’s erratic weather patterns and continued water concerns in the region. In California, early season cotton was subject to pressures that are not...

The Texas High Plains (THP), largest contiguous cotton patch in the world, had faced an unprecedented drought in 2011 and was unable to recover from the severe drought conditions until last fall. The insect pressure in cotton was relatively low during those dry years. The region has now received significant moisture. In fact, THP cotton planting to date has been limited to less than 10 percent due to the frequent rain events, which would have approached 50 percent in more normal years. We expect the planting to speed up as soon as the weather clears up. With good area-wide moisture and roadside weed hosts in high abundance, a higher-than-usual insect pressure can be expected this year in the THP and throughout Texas. Roadside weed hosts, Conservation Reserve Program grasses and wheat serve as excellent sources of thrips that could likely move to seedling cotton upon wheat harvest or weed senescence. Thrips are considered the most significant insect pest of THP cotton, primarily because their damage is generally compounded with early season environmental injury of seedling cotton brought on by high winds, sandstorms and cool/wet weather.

https://youtu.be/VoZELI--abQ Featured New Product Evaluator: Chad Brown, from Lubbock, Texas Nematode pressure can cripple a cotton field. Deltapine® NPE Chad Brown of Lubbock, Texas, says that Deltapine® develops a number of nematode-resistant varieties without sacrificing quality. Deltapine determines nematode pressure through soil...