During the Tuesday morning general session of the Cotton Production Conference in San Antonio, Gaylon Morgan with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service gave a review of 2012 in cotton production. “Several of the states are going to set record yields this year,” Gaylon said, particularly in the Southeast and the Delta. “As you move further west into Texas and Oklahoma, …
Washington Update for Cotton Producers
National Cotton Council president and CEO Dr. Mark Lange gave his Washington update during the Beltwide Cotton Production Conference on Tuesday, explaining what the taxpayer relief act passed on New Year’s Day means for them with the extension of the 2008 Farm Bill. “One thing they didn’t do was make any cuts,” Mark told me during an interview. “All that …
Display New for Cotton from FMC
Display is on display for cotton growers visiting with FMC Corporation this week at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. FMC Technical Support specialist Rusty Mitchell says Display (TM) is a new cotton harvest aid for defoliation and weed control that contains a combination of two PPO active ingredients – Carfentrazone, which is FMC’s Aim and Fluthiacet-methyl. “We wanted something that was …
Cotton Council Chairman Optimistic about 2013
Despite various weather challenges, 2012 was a good year overall for cotton production, especially where National Cotton Council Chairman Chuck Coley farms in Georgia, and he is optimistic about the year ahead. “We had an excellent crop in the Southeast, in fact we’re still ginning that crop,” Chuck told Southeast AgNet‘s Randall Weiseman. “We always wish the price is better …
New Format for Beltwide Cotton in 2014
Once upon a time, there were as many as 750 producers who attended Beltwide Cotton Conferences, but now it’s down to about 200 – so it’s time for a change. Producer/ginner Kenneth Hood of Mississippi has attended 32 Beltwides over the years and he was on the steering committee that made the decision on how to update the meeting for …
Preparing For 2012 Cotton Season With FMC
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I visited with Gerald Simmons, FMC Southern Business Manager, about some best management practices and things to consider when preparing for this year’s crop. He says the business has changed, especially technology, but that growers should also consider some of those “old” options they have. FMC has a broad portfolio now for cotton that growers …
John Deere Cotton Harvest Module Identification
John Deere talked up its latest application for cotton growers during this year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences. Harvest Identification Cotton will continue to automate the production of a cotton module. This is tied into the 7760 cotton picker. The application will use the RFID tags that are embedded into the module wrap. These will be captured by an RFID reader on …
Get The AgFax
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I got to visit with and get to know AgFax with husband/wife partners Debra Ferguson and Owen Taylor. Owen conducted a conference session titled, “New vs. Old Information Sources to Clientele,” as part of the segment on social media in production agriculture. As a new media company, we can relate to that! AgFax is “Where …
Athena For Cotton
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences my sponsor, FMC, featured two products for cotton growers, Athena and Mustang Max. I visited with Rusty Mitchell, to learn more about Athena. Rusty says Athena was originally developed for tree fruits and vegetable crops but realized it would have a great fit in cotton. It’s a pre-mix insecticide which was initially targeting spider mite …
Cotton’s First Forty Days
One of the resources available to cotton growers from the National Cotton Council is a pair of booklets on best management practices. They’re titled “The First 40 Days” and “Fruiting to Finish,” (pdf) To learn more about this project I spoke with Bill Robertson, Manager, Cotton Agronomy, Soils and Physiology, pictured toward the right in this photo. Bill says these …