The 2025 Georgia Quality Cotton Awards were presented at the 2026 Georgia Cotton Commission Mid-Year Meeting on July 29, 2026. The awards are co-sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission and Bayer Crop Science/Deltapine and administered by the University of Georgia (UGA) Cotton Team. Dr. Yangxuan Liu, extension economist at the University of Georgia, conducted the analysis. Dr. Phillip Roberts presented …
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The National Cotton Council’s (NCC) 2026 Mid-South Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) Tour, will take place from July 26 – 31. This immersive program will bring together U.S. cotton producers from across the belt to Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas to explore innovative farming practices and foster invaluable knowledge exchange. This year’s Mid-South P.I.E. Tour will offer participants a …
In June 2024, we wrote (link) about a novel new concept for adding base acres to farms that had been proposed in the House Ag Committee-passed version of the 2024 Farm Bill (Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024). The concept ultimately was adopted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) that was signed into law by …
Articles in this month’s issue include: Georgia Cotton Commission Mid-Year Meeting – July 29, 2026 (Camp Hand) Agricultural Risk is not a Shock Problem – It’s a Decision Problem (Yangxuan Liu) Managing the risks of a Fallow Field (Taylor Singleton) July Mid-Season Cotton Irrigation Considerations (Wesley Porter) Mid-season and the curse of spots and blights and tiger striping (Bob Kemerait) …
2026 ARC/PLC Enrollment Dr. Jody Campiche V.P. Economics & Policy Analysis The annual ARC/PLC election and enrollment for the 2026 crop year has been pushed back to the fall due to the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The election period will begin after the August 31 base reallocation deadline. While USDA has not yet announced the official …
June 25, 2026 MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The National Cotton Council (NCC) appreciates the Trump Administration for recognizing the serious economic pressures facing America’s cotton producers and the broader farm economy in the supplemental funding request transmitted to Congress. “We are grateful to President Trump for acknowledging the financial challenges confronting our farm families and for taking action to provide near-term economic …
Georgia Cotton Fertility Update – June 2026 Doug Amaral, Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility Specialist, UGA-Tifton As we move into the heart of the 2026 cotton season, most Georgia cotton has emerged and is progressing toward squaring, though crop development remains highly variable across the state. Frequent rainfall during planting created favorable moisture conditions in many areas but raised concerns about nutrient availability in …
By: Phillip Roberts June 23, 2026 Jassid Update and Don’t Overlook Known Insect Pests: To date cotton jassids have been detected on cotton at very low numbers in Tift and Grady counties. Jassids have also been detected in Gadsden County Florida and Elmore County Alabama. Entomologists in the southeast are mapping jassid detections by county, current detections can be found …
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The National Cotton Council (NCC) welcomes the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee’s release of a Farm Bill 2.0 discussion draft and urges strong bipartisan support for this proposal as it advances through the Senate. “We appreciate Chairman Boozman for developing this discussion draft during a critical time on our farms,” said NCC Chairman Nathan Reed. “Cotton …
By: Wesley M. Porter, Extension Precision Ag and Irrigation Specialist Cotton can be one of the most difficult crops to manage irrigation on throughout the season. Obviously, as with any crop, a lack of soil moisture will reduce yield. However, excessive soil moisture will reduce yields just the same, thus, a scientific irrigation scheduling method is strongly recommended to maximize …
Since the colonial days, trade has been vitally important for Southern agriculture. Historical records reveal that agricultural products accounted for 60-75% of Southern exports leading up to the American Revolution. In more recent times, USDA Economic Research Service trade data indicates that, despite recent trade challenges, agricultural exports from the Southern region have more than doubled (in nominal values) over the …
The Cotton Research and Promotion Program welcomes USDA’s announcement of the Great American Cotton Plan and its support for the Plant Not Plastic initiative. This effort is essential not only to strengthening the U.S. cotton industry, but also to advancing meaningful progress in human and environmental health. USDA’s announcement states, “Nearly 70 percent of the world’s textile fibers are now …