MEMPHIS, Tenn. – U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 11.5 million cotton acres this spring, down 5.2 percent from 2020 (based on USDA’s February 2021 estimate), according to the National Cotton Council’s 40th Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey. (see table below) Upland cotton intentions are 11.3 million acres, down 4.9 percent from 2020, while extra-long staple (ELS) intentions of …

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (February 10, 2021) – Ted D. Sheely, a producer from Lemoore, Calif., was elected as president of Cotton Council International (CCI) for 2021. CCI is the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) export promotion arm and carries out programs in more than 50 countries globally under the COTTON USA™ trademark. Sheely and other CCI officers were elected at CCI’s board …

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — National Cotton Council State Unit Officers for 2021 were elected at the industrywide organization’s 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen and Secretaries, respectively, of the State Units are: ALABAMA – Nick McMichen, producer, Centre; Ernest Osuna, ginner, Hazel Green; and Jeff Thompson, cooperative, Prattville; ARIZONA – Dan Thelander, producer, Maricopa; Bill Brackett, ginner, and K.C. Gingg, producer, …

(MEMPHIS, TN) – Van Murphy, a cotton grower from Quitman, GA, was elected Chairman of the Board of Cotton Incorporated at the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated Joint Meeting in December 2020.  Murphy brings a long history of service and experience to the Chairmanship, a two-year term that commences in 2021. “Van Murphy is well-respected in the U.S. cotton industry for …

WASHINGTON—A broad coalition of industry organizations and labor unions, representing a broad spectrum of manufacturers and workers who stepped up to make essential PPE and other products throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, sent a letter today to President Biden and congressional leaders outlining recommendations on specific policy initiatives that must be adopted to re-establish a permanent PPE industry in the United …

The 2020 Georgia Quality Cotton Awards were presented at the 2021 Georgia Cotton Commission Virtual Annual Meeting on January 27, 2021. The awards are co-sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission and Bayer Crop Science/Deltapine and administered by the University of Georgia Cotton Team. Dr. Yangxuan Liu from the UGA Cotton Team conducted the analysis and presented the 2020 Georgia Quality …

Did you suffer crop quality losses due to natural disasters that occurred in 2018 or 2019? USDA is implementing the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) Program to provide financial assistance to crop producers who experienced quality losses caused by qualifying disaster events. [VIEW WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2021 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to collaborate with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to raise awareness and further examine the significant increase in seed coat fragments in cotton produced in the southeast region. Thus far in the 2020 cotton season, the AMS …

Like most of you, we at the Georgia Cotton Commission are excited to see what 2021 holds in store for us. We are hopeful that 2021 will be an “abnormal” year – a year of both favorable markets and growing/harvesting conditions. We hope that you and yours had a Merry Christmas and that the new year will be safe and …

Ed Barnes, Agricultural and Environmental Research Division, Cotton Incorporated Seed coat fragments (SCFs) have been a long-term issue for cotton and outbreaks of SCFs occur sporadically every 3 to 5 years in a region of the U.S. This year the region includes Alabama, Georgia and Florida with the biggest outbreak of SCFs calls in the last 20 years. And it …

December 2020 The Georgia Cotton Commission has, under guidance, decided to move their Annual Meeting to a virtual format.  The virtual meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2021.  The usual UGA Cotton Production Workshops will be conducted virtually as well but spread out over the months of January and February.  The meeting program will feature speakers from several industry …

December 2020 On behalf of Georgia’s 3,500 cotton farming families, the Georgia Cotton Commission recently donated 12,000 pairs of socks to various homeless shelters across the state. Farmers delivered socks to Albany Rescue Mission, Lowndes Associated Ministries to People in Valdosta, the Homeless Resource Network in Columbus, The Sparrow’s Nest in Athens, Good News Shelter in Gainesville, the William S. …