2025 Variety Selection

MISSISSIPPI | Brian Pieralisi

2024 cotton harvest was a LONG one in Mississippi. At least it was for me with on-farm demonstrations from September to December. As we steam roll into 2025, it appears to be a challenging year for row-crop agriculture, including cotton production. High input costs, weak market prices and uncertainty with herbicide technologies is a recipe for tough times. I would select a variety / technology in advance and secure inputs to make sure you’re not scrambling during the optimal planting window. Regardless of technology, layering and overlapping residual herbicides with multiple modes of action should help reduce pressure from herbicide-resistant weeds.

By the time you read this, 2024 cotton variety performance data for both MSU small plot and on-farm trials will be posted to Mississippi-crops.com. At this point, some of the newer varieties have had two or three years of performance history, which helps in making selection decisions. Mississippi State small plot variety trials have evaluated 50 varieties in 2024 over seven locations, two regions and multiple irrigation practices. I recommend selecting a similar environment in the small plot trials to where you are placing a variety and comparing these varieties to a similar environment in a large plot situation.  Finding a variety with two or more years of performance data is also important in strengthening your decision. 

Variety selection decisions are made earlier than in years past. Some farmers are booking seed before variety trials are harvested, which illustrates confidence in a variety’s repeat performance. Supply of certain varieties has also caused earlier-than-usual selection decisions. To secure a particular variety, plan early and avoid late selection decisions, which could result in poor varietal placement. As always, feel free to contact me with any variety selection questions or comments. Happy New Year! bkp4@msstate.edu

ALABAMA | Scott H. Graham

The end of one year and beginning of another is a time that many take to reflect. Apple iPhones provide “memories” for all the images taken that year, many people set “New Year’s Resolutions” to make better habits, etc. Taking some time to think back through the farming season is no different. As we ponder what happened in 2024, it is easy to second guess or wish things had been done differently. Unfortunately, farming (and life) is about making the best decision possible with the information at hand and living with the results. But that doesn’t mean we cannot learn from the past year and look for ways to tweak our operation to improve.

Speaking of information at hand, one great resource offered to Alabama cotton farmers is the Official Variety Testing (OVT) program. Henry Jordan does an outstanding job running the OVTs and making information readily available. These small-plot trials are done on six experiment stations across the state and are managed intensely for high yields. In addition to multiple locations, OVTs also include short-season and full-season varieties and irrigated versus dryland information.

Additionally, Tyler Sandlin and our regional Extension agents (REA) conduct on-farm, large-plot variety trials to see how varieties perform in the “real world.” There are pros and cons to both types of trials, but when used together, they can provide insights into both the potential of a variety (OVT) and actual performance in a given year (on-farm).

While looking at locations most similar to yours is a key indicator of performance in your area, I would also suggest looking at variety performance across multiple areas. The new variety testing website makes this easy to do. Evaluating multiple locations provides us with an idea of the consistency of a variety. If one is consistently in the top three or four across locations, it will likely perform on your farm as well. Of course, while yield is the most important factor for variety selection, other traits, like herbicide tolerance, insect and nematode resistance should also be considered.

This information and more can be found Auburn’s variety testing website (https://aaes.auburn.edu/variety-tests/cotton-variety-trials/). Your local REA can help navigate the website or provide a PDF of the data if you need assistance. Additionally, we recently recorded an episode of the Alabama Crops Report Podcast with Henry where he provides more insight on the OVT program and website. If I can ever be of any help, don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know. scottg@auburn.edu

GEORGIA | Camp Hand

Every morning I am able, I take my little boy Hutton to daycare. My wife is a second grade teacher, and many mornings, she is gone by the time I get Hutton up and moving. However, many nights before Hutton goes to sleep, my lovely bride will pick his clothes out and have them ready for me to dress him the next morning (this is a hint that she doesn’t like the way I dress him without assistance). It certainly makes my life easier when his clothes are already picked out so we can get dressed and hit the road.

I wish choosing a cotton variety was as simple as me getting Hutton dressed in the morning when my wife has already laid his clothes out. I don’t have to think about if it fits, if it matches, if Hutton will be too hot or too cold — my wife already chose it, so I just roll with it.

Growers have to choose from numerous varieties and decide if it’s a good fit in their operation, what herbicide traits they plan to take advantage of, if they need additional protection from certain insect pests and, of course, the “Y” word (yield). There are numerous tools to help with this. At the University of Georgia, we do on-farm variety trials, OVTs and numerous industry trials throughout the state. Utilizing all these resources can certainly help in the variety selection decision.

I am looking forward to county production meetings this winter as all of those have been scheduled. We will certainly share some data to assist in variety selection decisions, and we will discuss some other things as well. As always, if you have any questions or need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your local UGA county Extension agent. We’re here to help! camphand@uga.edu

NORTH CAROLINA | Guy Collins

The winter months are a time to reflect on last year’s challenges and triumphs, lessons learned and opportunities for moving into a new year. Last year certainly brought it’s share of challenges, but these can make us better producers if used in the right way.

May brought mostly good weather, and good stands resulted. June brought excessive heat and drought and reminded us how short-lived our soil moisture can be and to be cautious with some early varieties, as well as pre-bloom PGRs. 

July and August brought us badly needed rainfall, which occurred frequently throughout the remainder of the summer. This particularly reminded us how “elastic” cotton can be by showing us one of the greatest rebounds in recent years. This one is particularly important to remember going into a new year, especially when comparing cotton’s rebound to that of other crops that were catastrophic as a result of the June drought.

September brought us cooler-than-normal weather, which slowed upper boll development and showed us what a cool fall can do for micronaire. September also brought us some wet, cloudy conditions, reminding us how hardlock alone affects our yields.

October and most of November brought dry weather and warm temperatures, which were badly needed for harvest. Yields were good for most of the state, especially considering what our crop had been through. We need to keep all of this in mind as we move into the 2025 season.

By the time this article is read, variety performance data from the North Carolina On-Farm Cotton Variety Evaluation Program and North Carolina State University’s OVT will be published on cotton.ces.ncsu.edu and will also appear in the North Carolina Cotton Variety Performance Calculator (trials.ces.ncsu.edu/cotton). Likewise, meeting season is now upon us. Our county production meetings are listed under “Events” on cotton.ces.ncsu.edu, and all growers are encouraged to attend. guy_collins@ncsu.edu

TENNESSEE | Tyson Raper

The 2024 season was very different than 2023 — or any other season I’ve observed since I began here in 2014. I’ve had numerous conversations the past few months about poor quality, excessive tagging during harvest and disappointing lint yields.

When gleaning information from a given season, I’d encourage you to keep in mind all factors that play a role in lint yield, fiber quality and harvest performance. A few years back, the Mid-South cotton specialists pooled our large-plot variety testing data to determine the relative importance of the environment versus variety planted. Across 69 different on-farm, large-plot variety trials, looking at varieties of similar characteristics to what we are currently planting, 86% of yield was explained by the environment (this includes things like soil type, rainfall, management, pest pressure, weed pressure, etc). The variety planted only explained 2% of realized yield.

Furthermore, environment explained 71% of micronaire, while variety explained 17%. Do not interpret these statements to suggest the variety you select does not matter — it is one of the most important decisions a grower makes each year. My point, instead, is this: many times, observations of poorer yield, poorer micronaire or excessive tagging on one farm planted to a single variety compared to another farm planted to a different variety — even if planted the same day — are likely only partially explained by variety and instead mainly driven by differences in environment. Extrapolating these single observations may cause you to make a bad decision. Instead, rely on variety testing data where the environmental factors are all held constant. traper@utk.edu

MISSOURI | Bradley Wilson

Variety selection is one of the most important decisions to properly prepare for the upcoming growing season. Choosing varieties can be difficult due to the wide selection of choices available and various soil types they are planted into. Cotton varieties can behave differently when planted into differing soil types; therefore, knowing the soil types in each field can help narrow down selection of varieties that are known to perform in that environment.

Management style can also change variety behavior. Some cotton cultivars are inherently more aggressive than others. Knowing this varietal information can help choose a cultivar based on typical style of growth management and water scheduling during the season.

Pest management is also a key reason to evaluate cotton variety selection. If nematodes or diseases have been present in fields in previous years, it may pay off if we select tolerant or resistant varieties to plant in these environments.

The last issue to cover is we are obviously planting in a short-seasoned environment; therefore, choosing early to mid-maturing cultivars can protect us from late-season issues such as an early frost that can impact cotton yield and leaf grade of mature fiber.

The University of Missouri Cotton OVT data for 2024 can be found at https://moaes.missouri.edu/t-e-jake-fisher-delta-research-extension-and-education-center/ under the variety testing tab. Three locations were planted in 2024 including Sikeston (silt loam), Senath (silt loam) and Clarkton (sandy loam). brwilson@missouri.edu

ARKANSAS | Zachary Treadway

It is about 35 degrees on Dec. 3 as I write this with Christmas music playing in my office, and cotton season 2K24 has come to an end in the Natural State. The most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report finally has us at the coveted 100% harvested mark.

Most of the state’s cotton has been out for several weeks, but there were a few outlying acres that were picked right before Thanksgiving to officially get us across the finish line. The state average looks to be somewhere around 1,200 pounds per acre, which is slightly below last year’s yield, but the increase in acreage from 2023 looks to put us around 238,000 bales above last year’s tally.

Arkansas producers weathered some storms this season, figuratively and literally. Hurricanes Francine and Helene hit our crop in the middle of defoliation, followed by rain that seemed to fall weekly. The weather roller coaster from extremely wet to hot and dry followed by hurricane rains put our crop, producers and consultants to the test, but all of the above proved to be resilient, and I tip my hat to all involved in producing a successful crop in a trying year.

As we wind the year down and head into the holidays, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I sincerely hope you are all able to take a much-needed rest and spend some time with those you love. As always, if there is anything  I can do, please reach out. ztreadway@uada.edu

TEXAS | Ben McKnight

As the 2024 growing season winds down and planning for 2025 begins, variety selection is often at the top of the decision-making list for most producers. With so many commercial varieties available to choose from, it may seem like an impossible task to select the best variety for your individual operation. Luckily, there are some resources that can help narrow down the list of varieties that fit well within your individual management style and growing region.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service annually conducts several cotton variety trials across the cotton-producing regions of the state. All these regional RACE trial results can be found at https://varietytesting.tamu.edu/cotton/. By the time you are reading this in the new year, results from 2024 cotton variety testing will begin to be published at this link. I encourage growers to look at the previous year’s results to assist with variety decision-making for the upcoming year.

Determining which varieties to grow in 2025 will also shape many of our upcoming pest management decisions. Trait packages in modern commercial cotton varieties can be a valuable tool for combatting pests including nematodes, disease, insects and weeds. Determining what are some leading yield-limiting factors can often assist with variety selection. For example, if nematode pressure is a primary yield-limiting factor, selecting a variety with nematode resistance traits will be beneficial for reducing yield loss from nematodes. If bacterial blight has been problematic in particular fields, choosing a resistant variety should be strongly considered. bmcknight@tamu.edu

TEXAS | Ken Legé

As I write this in late November, we still have about 20% of the 2024 crop to harvest, and growers are showing a mixture of pessimism and optimism. The pessimism stems from the lower-than-expected yields from the 2024 crop, the persistently low commodity price of cotton and the increasing costs of inputs. The optimism stems from recent rains over the past month that have lifted us from various levels of drought to having no drought at all from the top of the Panhandle down to the Concho Valley areas of Texas. Most has fallen as steady rain, rather than torrential storms, which is unusual for our area. This scenario will most certainly affect how growers select varieties for 2025.

I would urge growers not to judge too harshly a new variety that they tried in 2024 for the first time; they were likely disappointed in its performance. Growers need to realize, however, that nearly every field was a disappointment, and perhaps it wasn’t due to the variety choice. Conversely, if you had tried a new variety and were impressed by its performance, temper that excitement by reflecting on the atypical weather patterns we experienced in 2024.

The “elephant in the room” regarding variety selection for 2025 is the uncertainty of having a label for over-the-top dicamba on dicamba-tolerant varieties. There is presently much speculation as to whether a labeled dicamba product will be available by planting season. Additionally, a new technology has been made available that provides tolerance to HPPD inhibitor herbicides, but the accompanying chemistry has not been labeled at this time. Growers should keep vigilant for updates from the Environmental Protection Agency and seed companies involved to help make the best decision for their operations.

Our industry is somewhat fortunate we have still other herbicide options available: 2,4-D tolerant varieties in the W3FE and W3E1. In our geography, there are some herbicide-only options, like XF and AX varieties that do not have Bt genes, which offer a lower-cost option to growers who are willing to scout for worm pests more diligently. Growers in West Texas, including those growing organic production, have good-performing conventional varieties available, as either farmer-caught seed or purchased from a handful of conventional seed companies.

In the meantime, there is much information generated in 2024 to help growers evaluate which technologies and varieties are most appropriate for their operations. Texas A&M AgriLife conducts on-farm Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluations, or RACE trials, across the state, including the Southern High Plains, Panhandle and Rolling Plains regions. Additionally, our new breeder Dr. Carol Kelly conducts a number of Official Variety Trials (OVTs) at three locations across the High Plains. These non-biased, third-party trials are a valuable resource to growers, consultants and retailers. These data can be obtained by contacting me, following me on Facebook or downloading from http://lubbock.tamu.edu once they are posted.

To supplement these trials, growers should also look at on-farm trials seed companies conduct. Most companies conduct many more locations of their trials than we can conduct at AgriLife, so combining the results from the public trials from AgriLife with the data from companies enhances the number of environments a variety is evaluated, giving the grower a robust look at its performance. I’d also encourage growers to look at previous years’ data. Keep in perspective the environment that was experienced those years, and use that knowledge to make the best decision for what you think your operation could experience.

Another good rule of thumb is to not “put all your eggs in one basket;” that is, don’t plant the whole farm in one variety, no matter how good you think it is. Additionally, plant the majority of your acres in a proven variety. Then plant another 20% or so in a variety you had success with in 2024 and plant the remainder in a new variety that has the yield or fiber quality characteristics to fit a particular field, has a specific plant characteristic like storm tolerance or addresses a pest situation you will certainly face; be it nematodes, thrips, bacterial blight or Verticillium wilt.

Particularly in West Texas, be certain you understand how a variety responds to the water availability for each field. Most varieties are suited to either dryland-to-low irrigation capacity or to moderate-to-high irrigation capacity scenarios. Varieties broadly adapted across the water spectrum do exist, but they are generally rare. Don’t just assume that a variety will fit all scenarios; seek proof in the form of data from AgriLife, your consultant or your seed representative.

Finally, once you’ve selected your varieties and are prepared to take delivery, ask your retailer or seed company representative for the quality data: warm and cool germination percentages and seed size (#/lbs.). I am continually amazed how many growers do not ask for this vital (and readily available!) information. Not asking for the seed quality information is like buying a used pickup without ever asking the seller about its history, looking under the hood or even taking a test drive!

If your favorite variety happens to have, for example, 82% warm germination and 64% cool germination, you may want to make sure you plant it under better conditions and perhaps bump the seeding rate up for best results. On the other hand, if your seed lot has a 97% warm and 95% cool germination with large seed, you have more flexibility, including planting under cooler conditions after a planting rain, or even lowering your seeding rate to accommodate the excellent quality and trim some input costs on those fields. To even consider these options, you need that information; ask for it! ken.lege@ag.tamu.edu

ARIZONA | Randy Norton

Now that the season has ended and the harvest is in the barn, so to speak, it is a good time to review the performance data from your crops in 2024 and to begin to make decisions for the upcoming cotton season. There are many components contributing to the success or failure of a cotton crop including the appropriate and efficient management of pests, fertility, irrigation, plant growth and development, among others.

Of all potential management decisions, the one single decision that has a significant impact on the overall success of the crop is variety selection. Variety performance concerning yield is not the only factor for consideration in variety selection. Available trait packages for insect and weed management, along with the maturity classification of a variety are also variety attributes that need careful consideration but are often considered secondarily. Depending on your situation and production constraints, many of these variety characteristics can play a significant role in the success of your crop.

As important as all the secondary factors are for consideration, the most important consideration for your bottom line is variety performance with respect to yield and fiber quality. Data on the performance of these varieties in multiple regions of Arizona is available from multiple sources. The University of Arizona conducts a robust variety evaluation program across Arizona testing both commercially available and pre-commercial release varieties in testing environments ranging from small-plot research trials conducted on University experiment stations to large, replicated strip trials conducted on grower/cooperator fields across Arizona.

This testing program evaluates varieties of both Upland and Pima cotton. This information is tabulated and published for public consumption on our UA Cooperative Extension website at extension.arizona.edu/crops-soils. The results are also distributed at Extension meetings held across Arizona during the winter months each year. Company-specific variety trials are also conducted across Arizona with results available from seed company representatives. You are encouraged to review as much testing information as is available to assist you in making this most critical decision for your operation. rnorton@cals.arizona.edu