BY DARRYL EARNEST MEMPHIS, TENN. • Grew up in rural west Alabama. • B.S. in Industrial Engineering, Univ. of Alabama - 1990. • Started career in Greenwood, Miss., field office. • Served in Memphis 1991-2000, 2002-2005 and 2011-present; Washington DC 2000-2002 and 2005-2011. • Served...

BY TOMMY HORTON EDITOR When it comes to optimism about a new crop season, nobody exudes a positive attitude better than Texas cotton producers and ginners. Yes, the state is still in the midst of a three-year drought, but there are...

I couldn’t help but notice some of the reports that were coming out of the recent American Farm Bureau meeting in San Antonio on how journalists cover agriculture in the United States. It was an interesting panel discussion consisting...

BY CHUCK FARR CRAWFORDSVILLE, ARK. After 24 years of being an independent consultant I can honestly say I have been able to see and learn to do many things through my consulting business. I have to say that the most important...

Red River Crops Conference To Address Variety Of Topics Producers in the Red River area of Oklahoma and Texas will have a chance to hear an update on several important ag production topics on Jan. 28-29 at the Southwest Technology...

For all practical purposes, the 2013 cotton has been harvested. There may be a few isolated fields that haven’t been harvested, but these would be on the heavier, wetter soils that are prone to flooding. More importantly, the modules have been taken to the gins. I haven’t seen a module truck on the road for at least three weeks.

In the past few years, cotton acreage has taken a dip across the Belt as farmers reacted to attractive grain prices, and, in some areas, water issues. Despite this trend, many people in the industry have alluded to 2014...

TRENT LAMASTUS LAMASTUS COTTON CONSULTANTS, INC. CLEVELAND, MISS. I developed a love for agriculture while growing up and working on the family farm. While attending Delta State University, I worked during the summers as a cotton scout. This is when I was...

Honey bee health decline threatens the world’s agricultural enterprise and ecosystems, which rely on bees for pollination. Among several factors contributing to bee colony losses is the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which was first detected in the United States in 1987. Researchers have agreed that this parasite remains the single most detrimental pest of honey bees and is closely associated with overwintering colony declines

I am hoping for a lot of things, and I certainly hope that by the time this magazine is published in January that we’ll have a Farm Bill. We need for that to happen, along with a settlement of the WTO/Brazil case. And I am also hoping for some stability in the markets – especially as it pertains to China and India. It distresses me that these two countries’ actions can have such a significant impact on what happens to U.S. cotton in terms of cotton prices.

BY LIA GUTHRIE PUBLISHER Bug man. That’s what I remember consultants being referred to when I started in this business more than 25 years ago. My, how times have changed. One of my first mentors was a family friend who happened...

BY TOMMY HORTON EDITOR How do you convince 150 farmers and their wives to make a quick trip to Charleston, S.C., just a couple of weeks before Christmas? You make sure that the schedule appeals to everybody. And that is precisely what...

After months of anticipation, Monsanto has announced that three new cotton varieties will be launched for the Deltapine Class of 2014, including a variety bred for resistance to root-knot nematodes (RKN). The announcement occurred at the Charleston Place Hotel...

OSHA has rewritten the Hazard Communication Standard, and all employers (including agricultural employers) were required to have their workers trained on this new standard by Dec. 1. This rulemaking is complete and being implemented. A second rulemaking that would directly...

BY TOMMY HORTON EDITOR Can torrential rains keep a cotton crop from surviving and delivering any kind of yield? If you had talked to the Doyle farm family in Emporia, Va., last July, you would have heard that question. As a matter...