Will Connell President, Will Connell Ag. Consultant Inc. Stokes, North Carolina (Works with nine producers who have land in Nash, Wilson, Edgecombe, Pitt and Martin Counties) At an early age, I developed the interests that led me to consulting. I grew up on a...

By Mark Lange NCC President/CEO For 45 years, the biennial COTTON USA Orientation Tour has been extremely valuable in helping Cotton Council International (the National Cotton Council’s international division) in its mission of keeping the global pipeline filled with U.S. raw...

We’re almost to the end of this long 2013 season, and by the time many of you read this issue of Cotton Farming, we’re hopeful that the cotton crop will have been harvested in a timely fashion – even if it was a couple of weeks late. You might say this was another wild roller coaster ride of a season with unpredictable weather in nearly every region except the West.

By Bobby Skeen Monroe, La. Many cotton producers in the Mid-South have shifted away from cotton, some even shifting completely out of cotton for grains. Nevertheless, cotton is still “King” in the hearts of so many producers throughout the Mississippi Delta...

The volume of cotton that gets left on the ground during the harvest season has always been a source of frustration for producers. In the Western Cotton Belt, farmers are able to gather some of that cotton using Rood cotton harvesters. The harvesters use slotted belts to pick the cotton from the ground.

By Carroll Smith Senior Writer Small PigweedA lot of time and effort has gone into developing in-season strategies to manage problem weeds such as glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth (pigweed) and Italian ryegrass. Now, research has shown that applying herbicides in the fall,...

As harvest begins across the Belt, each region faces its own specific challenge as farmers begin the meticulous task of delivering this year’s crop to the gin. Cotton Farming Editor Tommy Horton interviewed four different ag experts in the...

How does a seed company celebrate 90 years of service to the cotton industry? That’s easy. You turn the celebration into a year-long family reunion and let everyone continue to reminisce about an amazing journey that began when patriarch...

By Jay Mahaffey Scott, Miss. As I get older and more sentimental, lessons learned in my experience become a bit clearer. I have spent time in cotton fields since I was a very young boy in northeast Louisiana. Many of these...

At this time, our cotton is about two weeks behind our normal development. Much of the cotton growing area has had about six inches of rain or more within the last month, with most of it coming in two weeks. We normally refer to the July and August rains as “million dollar” rains because it helps revive the non-irrigated cotton, and it lowers irrigation costs.

In many areas of the Belt, the cotton crop is somewhat behind schedule this year, requiring producers to make adjustments to their “normal” production practices. Thirty percent of the Web Poll respondents say they have had to deal with adjusting...

If there was one factor that I could change in our approach to cotton harvest in the Southeast, it would be to get it done…IN A HURRY. Timeliness preserves yield and quality. But 2013 presents the challenge of picking much of the crop in a timely fashion and, yet, on some late, late cotton, waiting until the last possible moment to pull the trigger.

By Mark Lange NCC President/CEO The National Cotton Council remains fully engaged in ever evolving regulations that can challenge producers’ ability to compete in the world marketplace. What about environmental issues? The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the pit bull of environmental laws....

By Tommy Horton Editor Sometimes we can learn more about farmers and ginners by spending an entire day with these folks and tracing their steps during a typical work day. In other words, unless we can understand the numerous decisions made...

By Tommy Horton Editor Cotton SchoolIt might have seemed unlikely that a Texas warehouseman could benefit from attending the Inter-national Cotton Institute this summer at the University of Memphis, but that is exactly what happened for Atticus Miller. The young president of...