My family was in the retail fertilizer application business, so I have been around agriculture all of my life. While I was in college, a local consultant in the Clarksdale area hired me and taught me how to scout...

Is it possible that this 2014 crop season is now in the record books, and farmers already are making plans for 2015? It’s hard to believe. I know we find ourselves repeating this thought every December, but the time...

When lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., for a post-election lame-duck session, action on a number of lapsed tax incentives is expected to be at the top of the congressional to-do list. Among the provisions important to farmers and ranchers...

By Tommy Horton, Editor How important is cotton production in Georgia? And is it still a viable commodity when prices dip into the 60- cent range? Those are legitimate questions to ask any farmer growing the crop in 2014. And...

By Brent Murphree Roller ginning upland cotton has been a topic of discussion for several years in the Western cotton gin community. This season, as profit margins on short-staple cotton get even tighter, the discussion is gaining increased traction as...

There are several Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections in progress at cotton gins right now. We have spent some time discussing OSHA inspections at our local meetings and at the gin schools. There will be additional discussions in January at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio, so be sure and attend the Ginning Conferences this year. In some ways, the inspections are very similar. We are seeing inspectors that have never been to a cotton gin before, and they make suggestions that are simply not possible to achieve. We are also seeing the normal emphasis in employee training, hazard communication programs and guarding. One significant difference we are seeing during inspections recently is a tendency to have a safety inspection, followed by a separate health inspection. We don’t know if this is the result of an emphasis in one particular region or something that is being emphasized across the United States.

There's been a lot of negative talk lately about cotton: how it's lost its mojo and fallen out favor with consumers. In today’s market, cotton is challenged in significant ways as it has to compete with an oversupply of synthetic fibers, a fast evolving textile supply chain, and changing consumer attitudes toward natural fibers. Of course, cotton always has to contend with weather, insects, weeds, and other growing problems; farmers year in and year out face such production challenges. Even so, there's always the demand of the market that ultimately tells the story of the success or failure of a product. Over the past few years, it seems as though the textile supply chain and consumers prefer synthetics. Cotton has lost market share. I've written several critical commentaries about the cotton business in various publications over the past few months. Much of my concern has centered on the lack of focus on the part of the industry to address inroads made by synthetics. Further, there’s confusion in the market over cotton's message. The frankly fallacious campaign conducted by proponents of "green" production (at the expense of traditional growing practices) has only helped to undermine the benefits of cotton.

By Kelli Merritt [email protected] Perhaps the most unwieldy element I encounter as a producer is the market. It might feel like it’s the lack of rain, or the heat or even the surprise hailstorms, but really the most dynamic and unpredictable...

Editor Tommy Horton talks about the latest issue of Cotton Farming Magazine including: Cotton growers' attentions are turning to planting decisions for 2015 The 2015 Cotton Seed Variety Guide has been published.  

ALABAMA The northern Alabama cotton crop in late September and early October was one of the best looking cotton crops that I have seen in some time. Cotton pickers were hardly leaving any cotton in the fields. Two weeks of...

By Tommy Horton Editor The Jordan brothers – John, Steve and Mike – are proactive in their approach to cotton production and embracing new technology. In the midst of challenging weather conditions across much of the Cotton Belt this year, preliminary reports...