Marketing

Farmers now have access to the breakthrough technology of Enlist cotton in 2016. As part of the Enlist weed control system, the Enlist cotton trait represents the most innovative advancements in weed control technology for the cotton industry. Enlist cotton provides exceptional crop tolerance to Enlist Duo herbicide — a combination of glyphosate and new 2,4-D choline — and full tolerance to glufosinate herbicides. “We have a level of glufosinate tolerance now that is comparable to the other products that you see in the marketplace,” says Chris Main, Ph.D., PhytoGen cotton development specialist for the Upper Mid-South. “In 2016, cotton farmers will have the option to apply glufosinate over the top of these varieties with confidence since the glufosinate tolerance has been increased.” Growers such as Virginia-based Mike Griffin participated in the 2015 Enlist cotton grower research plots. He understands the importance of new technology and is ready to use the Enlist system on more acres. “The Enlist system specifically has been brought forward to help control weed species that have been unmanageable,” he says. “We look forward to using this technology to help us with resistant and hard-to-control weeds.” What other efforts are targeting economic improvement? Early in 2015, the NCC sought relief from the onerous payment limit provisions of the 2014 farm law by urging Congress to restore USDA’s authority to allow marketing loan redemptions with commodity certificates. Fortunately, commodity certificates were restored in the omnibus appropriations act approved late in 2015. Redemptions with certificates are applicable to the 2015 crop, and any marketing loan gains under certificate redemptions do not apply...

The National Cotton Council recently seized an opportunity to tell a key Congressional panel about the dire economic and regulatory challenges facing the U.S. cotton industry. What was the venue? The early December hearing was conducted by the House Agriculture Committee’s General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Testifying were: NCC Vice Chairman Shane Stephens, a Greenwood, Miss., warehouser; NCC Producer Directors Shawn Holladay, Lubbock, Texas; and Cannon Michael, Los Banos, Calif.; and two other producer leaders: Kent Wannamaker, president, Southern Cotton Growers, Saint Matthews, S.C.; and Nathan Reed, Arkansas state chairman, American Cotton Producers, Marianna. They were joined by Mike Wright, executive vice president, Agricultural Lending for City Bank, Lubbock. Where do the challenges lie? Vice Chairman Stephens detailed the current economic conditions characterized by reduced acreage, struggling cotton demand and the lowest prices since 1989. Providing an agricultural lender perspective, Wright painted a bleak picture for the Subcommittee saying that with margins getting tighter every year due to higher production costs and lower commodity prices – producers need above-average yields just to break even. There is no doubt, he stated, that some cotton farmers will not qualify for financing next year, and the ability to obtain financing will become increasingly more difficult as crop prices remain low. Wright’s testimony was reinforced by Reed who testified that production costs in the Mid-South have risen continually over the past decade and he feared that region is at a tipping point. Reed cautioned that once the infrastructure of gins, warehouses and related businesses are gone, they are not likely to return.

The Cotton Research and Promotion Program (the Program) will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016. The Program is carried out by cotton farmers and cotton importers who work together to increase the demand for and profitability of cotton. Its...

During 2015, the National Cotton Council worked diligently to encourage the implementation of sound farm programs while managing numerous trade and regulatory issues that threaten to undermine industry competitiveness. What about the farm law and trade matters? The NCC helped convince policy makers to implement the 2014 farm law’s insurance provisions beginning with the 2015 crop. We worked closely with USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) to improve the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) provisions for the 2016 crop year. Based on those discussions, RMA recently announced several key STAX modifications for 2016, among them: 1) allowing producers to elect a zero percent coverage range by practice; 2) allowing written agreements that affect insurable acreage to apply to STAX; and 3) making STAX coverage available for cottonseed through an optional endorsement. NCC staff and industry officials also coordinated with USDA to ensure the marketing loan program would allow cotton redemption from the loan at the adjusted world price to minimize disruption of flow and forfeitures. Equally important was getting USDA to implement a reporting and tracking system so producers and cooperatives could know their status relative to the unified payment limit. The NCC worked on multiple trade concerns. We helped defeat potentially damaging amendments to the cotton and textile industries during Congressional consideration of Trade Promotion Authority. During the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, we insisted that a yarn forward rule of origin be required for products granted preferential access to the U.S. market.

The Cotton Research and Promotion Program has announced dates for the 2016 Young Guns Tour of Cotton Incorporated headquarters in Raleigh, N.C. The Young Guns Tour targets young cotton producers who have not had the opportunity to visit the...

Once the harvest machinery has been parked, most farmers and consultants like to enjoy a little downtime and recreational activities. But before long, it’s time to start thinking about the next season in order to be properly prepared. Most consultants schedule sessions with their farmer clients during the winter to begin this process since there is a lot of information to disseminate. The hot topic for everyone is how to protect and grow the bottom line in light of low commodity prices. In California, water availability still drives many of the decisions that cotton farmers have to make. For example, California pest control adviser Larry Gallian, whose consulting career spans more than half a century, says “rain-snow-rain-snow-rain” is the plan that California cotton producers are interested in at this time. Gallian says competing crops, the price of cotton and trees being planted daily on agricultural land are some of the factors that are affecting cotton acreage and production decisions out West. In other areas of the Cotton Belt, seasoned cotton consultants Bob Glodt, Bob Griffin and Mark Nemec agreed to share some of their top-of-the-list winter planning topics with Cotton Farming magazine.

Picture this. A future time, perhaps 10 years from today. It’s Christmas morning, and a young kid opens the Christmas gift his grandparents gave him. He unpacks it quickly hoping he likes whatever is being given because he needs to...

Since 2010, the Importer Support Program (ISP) of the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated has funded annual farm tours for brands and retailers as part of a concentrated effort to educate decision makers in the supply chain about cotton...

As a farmer, what’s most important to you? Sure, you want to make money and, sure, you want to provide for your family. You understand that. But what are you doing to understand your customers? You may say it doesn’t matter. I can always ship into the loan, and my co-op will handle it. My local pool worries about customers. Do you care about the market? What makes up your market? Your merchant or co-op help to make up your market, certainly. But what about their customers, the textile mills? What affects their market and how does that market matter to you? You may say, I’m a farmer, not a textile mill. But a textile mill will say, he is your customer: You will pay attention or he’ll buy from someone else. There’s a lot of cotton out there. Why? Because the mills have to pay attention to their customers.

United States cotton producers intend to plant 9.549 million acres this year. If realized, this will be 13.5 percent less than 2014 and the lowest acreage since 2009. This decline is not unexpected; cotton prices are low for the...

For many people, the term “globalization” only has significance as a label for business development over the past 25 years or so. In fact, globalization is nothing new and is typified by the cotton business. The rise of textiles, as the first rung of industrialization, the rise of textiles, particularly in 19th century Europe, would not have been possible without the globalized production of cotton in Africa, Asia, the Americas and elsewhere. Cotton, so it seems, was an essential, if unassuming, raw material of not only textiles but world development as well. “Today, cotton is so ubiquitous that it is hard to see it for what it is: one of mankind’s great achievements,” so declares Sven Beckert, a historian at Harvard University and winner of the prestigious Bancroft Prize, in his newly published Empire of Cotton: A Global History. Even so, as Beckert elaborates, “cotton is as familiar as it is unknown," a prescient observation when we consider the current state of the cotton industry.If you’ve ever wondered why the cotton business behaves as it does, I recommend reading this insightful history. Deeply researched, highly analytical and well written, Beckert successfully relates the importance of cotton to the evolution of global capitalism.

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.

If you want to sell something for the highest possible price, you should try a method that dates back to around 500 B.C. That’s around the time humans first used auctions as a means to a higher price. Your...

Call it the perfect education for pursuing a career in the cotton industry. In fact, you couldn’t find a better description for the International Cotton Institute conducted every summer at the University of Memphis. The school, which began in 1995, offers an eightweek curriculum that covers every aspect of cotton marketing and production.

When I learned that I’d be traveling to Montana earlier this summer with a group of cotton farmers, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But I had a pretty good idea that it would be a fabulous time for everybody. Believe it or not, I had a positive experience two years ago when I traveled with a similar group to North Dakota – and I knew this trip might be even better.