Equipment

Among challenges to the U.S. cotton industry’s competitiveness are securing an improved safety net for producers, making inroads against the competition from man-made fibers, maintaining U.S. cotton’s supply chain reputation and averting burdensome regulations. Is cottonseed policy attainable? Obtaining cottonseed eligibility...

A sold-out audience of the most influential executives in the global cotton fiber and textile business, representing 26 countries, attended the ninth Sourcing USA Summit last month in California. Who conducts the Summit? Cotton Council International (CCI) hosts the biennial Summit...

The 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) can help its attendees improve production, processing and marketing efficiency by providing them with insight into the latest available tools and research findings. Those planning to attend the concurrent conferences, set for Jan. 4-6...

The new Farmer of the Year was selected by three judges who visited his farm and the farms of other state winners during early August. The judges this year included Clark Garland, longtime University of Tennessee Extension agricultural economist from Maryville, Tenn.; farmer Thomas Porter Jr., of Concord, N.C., who was the overall winner in 2011; and Charles Snipes, retired Extension weed scientist from Greenville, Miss. Garland says Wildy impressed the judges with his innovative farm management and crop marketing practices. “David is an outstanding manager of land, labor, production inputs and capital,” he says. “His diversified farming operation features a wide assortment of high-yielding and profitable agronomic crops.” The judges were also impressed with how members of the Wildy family have been able to strengthen agriculture in the Southeast by sharing their farming resources with the research and education communities. “Wildy family members hold key positions in this farming business, and they are responsible for much of the farm’s overall success,” Garland says. “They are consistently achieving their short- and long-term strategic farming goals, and these goals involve the entire family.”

Although export of raw cotton has become essential to U.S. cotton producers’ economic well-being, the National Cotton Council continues its longstanding work for our domestic textile industry. How about assistance in the legislative arena? n A major effort is the NCC’s work to maintain the highly successful “Economic Assistance to Users of Upland Cotton” program first introduced in 2008 farm law and reauthorized in the 2014 bill. This program makes a payment of 3 cents per pound to U.S. textile manufacturers for all upland cotton consumed. Payments must be used for specific purposes such as acquisition, construction, installation, modernization, development, conversion, or expansion of land, plant buildings, equipment, facilities or machinery. More recently, the NCC has been working with the Washington D.C.-based National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and key lawmakers to make sure the Berry Amendment is not weakened in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act. That Amendment requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to purchase textiles and apparel made with 100 percent U.S. fiber and labor. Likewise, the NCC, NCTO and others have conveyed to lawmakers the critical need for Export-Import Bank Reauthorization. The Ex-Im Bank provides important financing for the U.S. textile industry and its ability to export products.

Ginners need to be ready for anything. It happens almost every year. Some kind of adverse weather or harvest condition complicates an already hectic job. It seems like gin season will never get here, and then all of a sudden...

New Mississippi Facility Exceeds Wildest Dreams By Carroll Smith Editor Tucked away in Noxubee County, Miss., about 1½ miles down Deerbrook Road, Bogue Chitto Gin Inc. is an impressive testimony to area producers’ faith in cotton. The 25 stockholders settled on the...

Raymat Specializes In Insect Growth Regulators Raymat Crop Science, headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., with offices in Shanghai, China, specializes in insect growth regulators (IGR) in both agriculture and animal health.This U.S.-owned and operated corporation has worked with global partners for...

By Carroll Smith Editor In 1949, U.S. President Harry S. Truman was inaugurated for his second term, world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retired, and Doc Kirby, B.H. Bass Jr. and Duff Holcomb – three men from the Mississippi Delta –...

Aldicarb Available For Use In Georgia In 2016 Farmers will soon be able to purchase AgLogic 15G Aldicarb Pesticide, which is essentially the same as Temik in formulation and performance. Ag Logic Chemical LLC, the registrant of AgLogic 15G Aldicarb Pesticide,...

New MOA To Stop Pigweed Cotton farmers now have a new pre-emergence herbicide and class of chemistry in the fight against resistant weeds. SePRO Corp. has announced that on Feb. 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered Brake herbicide for cotton. The company says that Brake offers exceptional cotton tolerance with extended residual weed control, providing a great start and maximizing yield potential. Brake is a strong residual herbicide that provides the foundation for comprehensive weed control, regardless of traits. It controls herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth and other broadleaf weeds and grasses. This herbicide excels under wet conditions, providing assurance when farmers are unable to make timely post-emergence herbicide applications. “Having the opportunity to develop Brake alongside the grower community has been invaluable for this new class of chemistry for cotton,” says Bill Culpepper, CEO SePRO Corp. To learn more, go to brakeherbicide.com. Still Time To Join The 2015 One Ton Club Cotton farmers who plant FiberMax cotton seed are eligible to join the One Ton Club if they harvested 2,000 lb./A on at least 20 acres in 2015. The qualification deadline is April 6, 2016. Growers who qualify for membership receive FiberMax One Ton Club

Cotton Researcher D.D. ‘Dick’ Hardee Dies In Greenville, Miss. Dr. D.D. (Dick) Hardee, well-known cotton entomologist, passed away Nov. 19, 2015. He was 77 years old. Dick began his 40-year career as an entomologist in 1964 when he accepted a position...

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...

Can a cotton producer learn anything valuable after spending a week in Montana? To the uniformed outsider, that would be a logical question. For participants in this summer's Multi-Commodity Education Program (MCEP) tour, it all makes sense now. This program...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that USDA is seeking applications from rural small businesses and agricultural producers for funding to make energy efficiency improvements or to install renewable energy systems. "Developing renewable energy presents an enormous economic...