Ashburn, GA, (very close to Heaven!) | Last year Georgia growers averaged 840 pounds per acre, LINT, the white stuff. The highest yielding field I have ever had was 3.4 bales per acre, over 1600 pounds, but that is unusual, 1000 to 1300 are normal yield goals for our range of irrigated production, with 750 to 1100 being a goal for unirrigated.
For every pound of lint there is usually about 2 pounds of seed and trash that get picked by the cotton picker, mostly seed. Separating the lint from the seed and trash is what the gin does, then they press it into a bale. Bales of cotton typically weigh from 490 to 525 pounds, unless it is a USDA official statistical yield quote, which is always based on 480 pound bales.
Cattlemen feed the seed, especially dairymen, but it is crushed for oil and used in numerous cooking and industrial applications as well. The farmer "sells" the seed to the gin for, usually, about enough to cover the gin charges. Some gins just always "gin for the seed", but will get the producer on warehouse in, storage, and out charges.
Cotton is graded at regional USDA offices, samples from every bale sent in. There are offices in the SE in Florence SC and Macon Ga. The gin sends samples from every bale. Unsold cotton, once grades are in, is often "put up for bid" by a grower through a broker. Cotton is graded on color, fiber length (staple length), and fiber thickness (micronaire), plus trash and some other things.
Most cotton is exported to Asian countries for spinning to thread, cloth, and clothing, as our domestic mills have seen tremendous margin problems, and have shut down. I think the domestic market has gone from 13 million bales ten years ago to less than 7 million today (approximate statistics from memory).
Cotton, as much as any crop grown anywhere, is part of our Southern Culture. There is just something about that crop that really gets you. Cotton people, and I mean REAL cotton people that are growers, consultants, ginners, retailers, whoever, indentify it as part of their heritage or something. It's like a cattleman who is not only a cattleman because it's a chosen business enterprise, he may be a cattleman because he loves animals. Cotton is one "animal" that I really love to watch, be part of helping it grow.
Besides, as a fabric, no other clothing material is nearly as versatile, as comfortable. I'll keep eating corn flakes, y'all keep wearing cotton! |
Cotton Progress
