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 …
FMC Talks New Product Lines
FMC Corporation shared new product lines during the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talks. Chuck talked with Bentley Curry, FMC Representative, about herbicides and harvest aids farmers can take advantage of in the fields. “This year we had the Authority line of products in combination with Authority XL, Authority MTZ. Probably the product that was best fitted for …
Soybeans Up, Corn Crop Down a Bit
The October USDA crop production report out this morning took a little bit more off the corn crop but increased the soybean crop by nine percent. Corn production is forecast at 10.7 billion bushels, down slightly from the September forecast and down 13 percent from 2011. This represents the lowest production in the United States since 2006. Based on conditions …
Flavor Infused Cottonseed Oil From Alcala Farms
Pure cottonseed oil from Alcala Farms. It’s what I’ll be cooking with. Here’s why: “Silky-clear, lightweight body and flavor-neutral palate. Pure Cottonseed Oil is the perfect base for salad oils, marinades, sauces, frying, stir-frying, searing and sauteing.” It’s the original vegetable oil. Bet you didn’t know that CRISCO stands for Crystallized Cottonseed Oil. I didn’t either until I got to …
Monsanto Working on Drought Tolerant Cotton
Doug Jost is a Technology Development Representative for Monsanto and was visiting with us at the Ag Media Summit. Doug says what they do for the company is “test our new technologies usually in an experimental form and not commercialized yet . . . from cotton varieties to roundup formulations to drought tolerant cotton, things like that.” When it comes …
BASF and Monsanto Team for Fungicide Seed Treatments
BASF and Monsanto are teaming up for fungicide seed treatments for cotton and soybeans in North America. Monsanto’s next generation Acceleron® Seed Treatment Products for soybeans and cotton will contain F500®—the same active ingredient found in Headline® fungicide—and the innovation Xemium® fungicide, which is expected to be registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2012. According to BASF …
First USDA Planting Guess
Our ZimmPoll question this week is about what you think will be planted this year (just for corn and soybeans, with our apologies to the wheat and cotton growers), and USDA’s Chief Economist gave his answer at the 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum last week. “We’re estimating corn plantings at about 94 million acres, the largest plantings since 1944,” said Joe …