Land of Cotton Archives
This is the electronic version of back issues from landofcotton.com.
Articles are listed by date they were removed from the news page.
April-June, 2001
April 9

House budget favors agriculture
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon approved a 10-year budget resolution that Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest, R-Texas, said will set the course for predictable support to the agricultural community based on sound policy.  The budget allows for the reform of the commodity title of the current Freedom to Farm policy to give farmers needed predictability in farm income support, as opposed to continued ad hoc disaster assistance.  The budget also reserves funding in the current 2001 fiscal year in anticipation of lost income from high fuel and fertilizer costs and forecasts of continued depressed commodity prices.

Agriculture, as well as defense, is named in the budget plan as eligible for access to the $514 billion Strategic Reserve Fund from fiscal years 2002-2011. By summer, the Agriculture Committee will present a long-range commodity program based on the consensus of farm groups' specific plans that will determine the budget needs recommended by the Agriculture Committee.   Current crop year needs will be allocated from the fiscal year 2001 reserve fund of $90 billion.

 The budget also leaves room for additional tax reform, such as expanded income averaging provisions and creation of Farm And Ranch Risk Management savings accounts.

ICAC projects 20.3 million tons
The International Cotton Advisory Committee projects world cotton production will reach 20.3 million tons in 2001-02 -- 50,000 tons above consumption. As a result, 2001-02 ending stocks are expected to increase by 50,000 tons to 8.1 million tons, and the 2001-02 Cotlook A Index is expected to average 56 cents per pound.

An increase in planted acreage in China, resulting in higher production and reduced imports,   "and deeper anxiety about world economic performance in light of declines in major financial markets," make it unlikely that prices will recover beyond 60 cents this season, the ICAC reports.

Twin-row trials produce in NSW
California researcher Bill Weir found that the benefits of ultra-narrow row cotton travel quite well across the Pacific when he visited a "twin-row" trial in Narrabri, New South Wales. The Australian trial produced cost savings and yield increases similar to those Weir had seen in three years of replicated trials in Merced County.

"We got the same yield gains and saved $50 per acre compared with the costs for conventional cotton," Weir told Cottonworld, a cotton-production website based in Australia. "We planted only 300 acres again in 2000 -- the third year of trials -- and we saw a 6.6 percent increase in yield and saved from $14 to $60 an acre, depending on the grower."

The planting pattern -- twin rows 7 inches apart every 30 inches -- requires more seed than conventional planting. It also requires more growth regulator, but with only one year's data, Weir was not ready to say how much. And, he said, the 30-inch beds dry out more quickly.

Weir and growers noted that the plants in one row tend to be shorter than in the adjacent row, an effect they attributed to imperfect planter technology. "You have to watch it when you are planting on the side rather than the centre of the bed -- the planter may be planting deeper on one side."

Weir said it was only the lack of a commercial planter that was limiting the acreage of UNR cotton in the United States.
 
Motes & Linters
Items of value in a small space
Texas gets Section 18 for Furadan
Texas growers will be able to use Furadan to battle the cotton aphid this season, according to Plains Cotton Growers Inc. The Texas Department of Agriculture received confirmation last week that its request to EPA for a Section 18 exemption for Furadan had been granted, reports PCG VP for Operations Roger Haldenby.
Estimates of 2001
U.S. cotton plantings
NCC 15.9 million acres
Linn 15.98 million acres
Sparks 16.5 million acres
USDA 15.6 million acres

April 16
Early planting at 7 percent
Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina joined the ranks of the early planters last week, each planting 1 percent of their expected acreage. California, Arizona and Texas added acreage to the ground planted the week before, bringing the total to 7 percent of expected acreage planted beltwide.

California has now planted 25 percent of its expected acreage, up from 15 percent last week but behind the 31 percent planted by the same time a year ago. Arizona has planted 24 percent of its crop, adding 9 percent to its total of a week ago and 10 percent to its total a year ago. Texas has planted 11 percent, adding only 1 percent to last week's total but matching its 2000 rate.

The U.S. cotton crop was 7 percent planted as of April 8, even with last year's planting on the same date and 1 percent ahead of the national five-year average, according to USDA's April 9 Crop Progress report.

April 23

Planting keeps pace with the averages
The U.S. cotton crop is 9 percent planted, equalling the national five-year average but 2 percentage points behind last year's level at the same date. The USDA's weekly Crop Progress report shows that nine out of 14 states had begun planting as of April 15. Arizona leads in planting, with 36 percent of its expected acreage already planting. California is next with 30 percent planted. After that, percentages drop off sharply: Texas has 12 percent, Alabama 7 percent, Louisiana 6 percent, Mississippi 5 percent, Georgia and South Carolina 2 percent each and Arkansas 1 percent.

The planting progress in each state is close to its five-year averages, and most states are not far off last year's pace -- with the exception of California, where a five-year average of 33 percent belies last year's 61 percent planted by April 15.

Outlook: Cotton remains attractive
Although U.S. cotton acreage is expected to expand only slightly this season, production is likely to surpass the 2000 crop, according to USDA's Cotton and Wool Outlook for April. Last season's high rate of abandonment is unlikely to be repeated, resulting in an increased harvest.   The first official supply and demand estimates report for the 2001-02 season will be released  May 10.

Cotton futures prices declined 20 percent in the first quarter of 2001, but cotton remains an attractive crop. Its continued appeal is attributable the lack of profitable alternatives, high energy and fertilizer costs limiting corn acreage, the appeal of the cotton insurance program, and the
benefits of the marketing loan program, according to the report. These factors have combined to keep area in cotton production even though ending stocks for the 2000-01 marketing year are projected to climb to 5 million bales, the highest since the 1988 season.

ICAC: Production to match consumption this season
World cotton production and consumption are expected to level out at 20.3 million tons in 2001-02, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee's latest estimate (PDF).

World cotton consumption is at a standstill this season, says the ICAC, but it is expected to increase by 1.6 percent to 20.2 million tons in 2001-02. Currently depressed prices should be enough to drive up consumption somewhat over the next two years, the ICAC says.

"The recent decline in prices should secure growth in consumption next season," the report reads. "According to research on textile demand by the Secretariat, on average, a 20 percent decline in prices can translate into a 1 percent increase in world cotton consumption. Cotton prices have declined by 21 percent since December 2000, and the expected season average for 2000-01 of 60 cents per pound is well below the average of the past 25 seasons. Further, the Cotlook A Index is expected to decline by 8 percent  in 2001-02.

Monsanto, Aventis settle seed technology lawsuits
Monsanto Company and Aventis CropScience have reached settlements in two lawsuits that had been blocking patents and commercialization of genetically improved cotton varieties.

"These resolutions will give farmers greater choice in the seed varieties available to them with built-in protection against insects and with better weed control options," said Hendrik A. Verfaillie, president and chief executive officer of Monsanto. "We can now move forward with more certainty as we prepare to introduce our second-generation Bollgard insect-protected cotton and future generation YieldGard insect-protected corn products to the market during the next several years."

The legal actions and the agreements involve intellectual property issues regarding cotton transformation and stacking of multiple insect-protection traits in plants.

Specific financial details of these agreements were not disclosed.  The agreements provide in general that:

"We're looking forward to offering cotton growers our FiberMax varieties with Monsanto's proven insect-protected and herbicide-tolerant technologies," said Alain Godard, president and chief executive officer of Aventis. "These agreements should create significant value as we can now work to develop our products and the market."

USDA expects slight acreage increase
U.S. cotton plantings for 2001 are expected to total 15.6 million acres, up less than 1 percent from last year, according to USDA's Prospective Plantings report.  If intentions are realized, this would be the largest acreage since 1995 and the second largest since 1962, the report says. However, low cotton prices and high energy costs have limited any significant increase in planting intentions, the report says.

Upland cotton acreage is expected to total 15.4 million acres, 29,000 acres above 2000. Growers intend to plant 220,000 acres of American-Pima cotton, up 28 percent from last year.

Estimates from other organizations range from The National Cotton Council's 15.9 million acres to Sparks Commodities' 16.5 million acres.

2000 crop tops 17 million bales
Ginning of the 2000 U.S. cotton crop stands at 17,179,750 standard bales, according to USDA's  latest Cotton Ginnings report March 23.  This is some 200,000 bales more than last year at the same time, making it the largest crop since 19??

Of the almost 16.8 million bales of Upland cotton, Texas produced just short of 4 million bales. North Carolina contributed 1.5 million; Mississippi 1.7 million; Georgia almost 1.7 million; Arkansas 1.4 million and California 2.2 million.

Western producers grew a Pima crop of 389,050 bales, with 346,000 bales coming from California, 31,000 from Texas, 7,500 from Arizona and 4,550 from New Mexico.

The highest producing county in the United States was Fresno County, Calif. The 855,950 running bales ginned in Fresno County were more than the total ginned in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Virginia and Missouri.

The next Cotton Ginnings report will be issued May 10.

May 1
Everybody's planting (well, nearly everybody)
Arizona passed the halfway mark in its cotton planting last week at the same time Oklahoma was getting started. Arizona growers had planted 53 percent of their intended acreage, while their counterparts in Oklahoma have planted 1 percent as of Sunday, according to USDA's weekly Crop Progress report.

California has planted 45 percent, Louisiana 38 percent, Alabama 14 percent and Texas 13 percent. The rest of the states are still in single digits: Mississippi 9 percent, Virginia 7, Missouri 5, Georgia 5, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 2, Arkansas 2 and Tennessee 1.

Overall, 13 percent of expected acreage has been planted, matching the five-year average but two points behind last year.

Texas gets Section 18 for Denim
By Roger Haldenby, Plains Cotton Growers Inc.

Texas Department of Agriculture Pesticide Registration Program Director Charlie Thomas announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a FIFRA Section 18 Emergency Specific Exemption request for the use of emamectin benzoate (Denim
0.16 EC insecticide) to control beet armyworm on cotton in Texas.

Thomas says, according to the exemption, Denim may be used as needed when thresholds meet economic importance through Oct. 1.

Certified applicators, licensed applicators or persons working under the direct supervision of a licensed applicator must make the applications. The applicator must have in his possession the EPA approval notice at the time of the application.

A copy of the EPA approval notice can be obtained from the TDA web site at:  www.agr.state.tx.us

This is the third year TDA has requested and EPA has approved the use of Denim under an emergency specific exemption. Syngenta Crop Protection, the manufacturer, is making progress toward FIFRA Section 3 registration. TDA hopes use of this product after the 2001 use season will be under federal label instead of an emergency specific exemption.

Cottonseed payment program benefits gins
USDA is accepting applications from cotton gins for the 2000-crop cottonseed payment program April 27-May 18. The program will pay gins up to $100 million to offset low cottonseed prices from the 2000 crop.

USDA will base individual payments on the estimated quantity of cottonseed produced from the bales and lint weight reported on the application. Payments are being made to gins because they usually retain proceeds from the sale of the cottonseed. Gins may be required to share payments with farmers in cases where farmers have been affected been low cottonseed prices.

USDA has mailed applications to 1,004 cotton gins. Gins that have not received an application form by April 30 may call (202) 720-8481 to have an application to be faxed or mailed.

Applications must be returned by May 18. Ginners who have submitted an original signature to FSA's Price Support Division in Washington may fax their applications to (202) 720-9069.  Companies that operated more than one gin for the 2000 crop should submit one application for all gin locations.

About two weeks after the last application is received, USDA's Commodity Credit Corp.will make payments by direct deposit and mail deposit notifications to gins.

Russell will find you a workout partner
You know all about Russell, of course. It's a major consumer of the highest quality U.S.-grown cotton, a manufacturer of smooth and comfortable knit fabrics and is perhaps best know for athletic uniforms.

True enough, but Russell has set out to prove through a new Web site that its athletic apparel is not just for the professional or student athlete. Russell Athletic has launched  www.forthelongrun.com, the vehicle, it claims, for the world's first "Virtual Workout Partner" program. Members will use the site to compare notes with a remote workout partner matched up with them through the site.

"There are so many benefits from working out with someone else," said Trish Martin, Russell Athletic vice president for marketing. "Our site is designed to help everyday athletes stay
motivated, give support and encouragement and take responsibility for their healthy lifestyle."

May 8
Planting explosion
California growers had 80 percent of their expected cotton acreage planted as of Sunday, adding 35 percent during the previous week and 11 percent ahead of its five-year average, according to USDA's Crop Progress report for April 30. As impressive as that number is, California is still 13 percentage points behind last year.

Arizona was 63 percent planted, an increase of 10 percent over the previous week. That puts the state 1 percent behind last year and 6 percent behind its five-year average.

Alabama with 49 percent and Louisiana with 42 percent were closing in on the halfway mark at week's end and have probably passed it by now. Alabama added 35 percent to its total of a week earlier, bringing it to 19 percent ahead of last year and the five-year average. Louisiana gained 14 percent during the past week and stand even with last year's pace -- and double its five-year average.

Planting is moving ahead rapidly in the Delta this week, and expectations are that the big gains of last week will be repeated in the next report. Mississippi, at 28 percent planted as of Sunday, had just 9 percent the week before. Missouri, with 32 percent planted, had 5 percent a week earlier. Arkansas went from 2 percent to 20 percent in one week, and Tennessee went from 1 percent to 16 percent.

The Atlantic states are progressing more slowly, except in Virginia where planting rose from 7 percent as of April 22 to 28 percent on April 29. Georgia stood at 16 percent as of Sunday, up from 5 percent a week earlier. North and South Carolina are still in single digits and both slightly behind their five-year averages.

Oklahoma also has yet to break double-digits, although at 9 percent it has more than doubled its five-year average and last year's mark. Texas has 17 percent of its acreage planted -- equaling last year's pace and its five-year average.

Overall, the U.S. crop is 25 percent planted, 2 percentage points ahead of last year and 5 percent ahead of the five-year average.

Thomaston's looking for a buyer
Thomaston Mills is up for sale. The company announced Monday that it had engaged a broker, Equity Partners Inc., to solicit offers. A. William Ott, two months into his stint as Thomaston's acting president and CEO, said the company will work with the broker "to explore interest in the potential sale of the company in its entirety or in segments."

Equity Partners, Inc expects to have prospects tour the facilities over the next four weeks leading to a variety of options for management to consider.  "This represents an opportunity for a buyer to acquire the business or a major portion of the business, without having to acquire all of the
facilities," according to John Herman of Equity Partners, Inc.

Thomaston Mills Inc. has operated continuously for more than 100 years. It has four plants in Thomaston, Ga., and employs more than 1,400 people, producing bedding products for the retail and institutional markets as well as piece-dyed apparel fabrics for the sportswear and career apparel markets.
 

May 16
2000 crop totals 17.2 million bales
The U.S. 2000 cotton crop ginned out at 16,741,850 running bales, the equivalent of 17,179,500 standard bales, the Department of Agriculture reported Thursday. The total is 1 percent above 1999's ginnings of 16.5 million bales.

Increased acreage was planted to cotton during 2000 because it was seen as more profitable than other crops. The area planted to all cotton totaled 15.5 million acres, up 4 percent from 1999.

However, the toll of drought and high temperatures in the extreme Southeast and southern Plains was a reduction in harvested acreage from 1999. Harvested area was 13.1 million acres, down 3 percent from last year.

Still, an average yield of 25 pounds above the previous year offset the decline in harvested acreage.
Yields for the U.S. averaged 632 pounds per harvested acre.

The 2000 output is the eighth largest crop on record. Upland cotton production, at 16.8 million bales, was 3 percent above the previous year. American-Pima production totaled 389,100 bales, down 42 percent from 1999.

There were 1,018 active cotton gins during the 2000 season, down from the 1,084 that operated in 1999. There were 336 ginnings firms processing more than 20,000 bales in 2000, compared with 333 the previous season.
 


Emerging planters
A week of sunshine brought cotton planters blossoming from their sheds in the Midsouth last week, judging from USDA's weekly Crop Progress report.  Arkansas's planting percentage rose from 20 percent the previous week to 68 percent as of Sunday. Louisiana went from 42 percent to 80 percent, Mississippi from 28 percent to 72 percent, Missouri from 32 percent to 81 percent and Tennessee from 16 percent to 62 percent. The entire Delta is far ahead of the five-year average for planting on this date, with every state approximately doubling its normal planting progress.

Planting fever broke out in Virginia and North Carolina as well. Virginia's planting increased from 28 percent to 70 percent in one week, while North Carolina went form 7 percent to 35 percent. South Carolina made considerable progress, from 9 percent the previous week to 21 percent as of Sunday. Georgia has planted 29 percent, up from 16 percent, and Alabama has planted 60 percent, up from 49 percent the week before.

The pace is slower in the Southwest. Texas has planted 22 percent, up from 17 percent, and Oklahoma has planted 13 percent, up from 9 percent. Texas' progress matches its five-year average, while Oklahama's is more than twice its five-year average of 5 percent.

In the West, Arizona has planted 76 percent, a little ahead of last year but behind its five-year average of 82 percent. California has planted 95 percent, a little behind last year, but ahead of its five-year average of 83 percent.

Overall, 43 percent of expected U.S. cotton acreage has been planted, 11 percent ahead of the national five-year average and 8 percent ahead of last year.

ICAC: Prices to remain below average
World cotton production is expected to increase by 7 percent next season and is likely to be 200,000 tons above world consumption, the International Cotton Advisory Committee reports. As a result, international prices are expected to average 58 cents in 2001-02, 1 cent less than the average level expected for this season.

The Cotlook A Index leveled off somewhat in April after falling 23 percent in three months. Despite the expectation that imports by China will have to climb because consumption in that country is exceeding production and stocks are dwindling, demand has not picked up. Spinning mills have generally adopted a wait-and-see attitude in the hope of even lower prices. Over the last 25 years, cotton prices have been this low only twice, at the end of 1999 and in mid-1986.

World production is now estimated at 18.9 million tons this season, 900,000 tons less than consumption, and world stocks are expected to decline from 8.9 million tons on Aug. 1, 2000, to 7.9 million tons on July 31, 2001. Market fundamentals suggest that the A Index will average 59 cents per pound in 2000-01, 6 cents more than in 1999-00 but 19 percent below the average of the last 25 seasons and below the cost of production in most countries.

The recent decline in prices will help stimulate growth in consumption next season. Research on textile fiber demand indicates that a decline in cotton prices of 20 percent can translate into a 1 percent increase in world cotton use.

However, the recent depression of world prices has not reduced planting intentions in the northern hemisphere. World cotton area is expected to rise by 9 percent to 34.7 million hectares in 2001-02, compared with 31.9 million hectares this season. This would be the highest acreage since 1995-96, when world production reached 20.4 million tons. Major increases will take place in India, China the United States and Brazil.
 

Causes of high mic, short fiber in Australian crop
Rain has interrupted harvest of  Australia's cotton, a crop already plagued with neps, high micronaire, short fibers and color discounts.

The high micronaire and short fiber were likely the result of unusually hot weather, but at different times of the season, according to CSIRO plant breeder Greg Constable in the current issue of Cottonworld, the Australian online cotton newsmagazine.

Constable, leader of CSIRO's cotton plant breeding team at Myall Vale, New South Wales, explained that the high micronaire "is a consequence of extreme hot weather [late in the growing season] in what has been an average yielding year," while the short fibers resulted from a heat wave  in December and January, the first three weeks after flowering.

"In a high-yielding year [4-5 bale-per-acre yields, given good conditions] assimilates [nutrients] in the plant are distributed among more fibers," Constable said. "In a moderate year like this [3-3.5 bales] there is a possibility the better conditions in the later part of the year have been distributed among pure fibers, which leads to a higher-diameter, coarser fiber."

"The first three weeks after flowering is the time when fiber length is determined," Constable continued. "So the stress would not necessarily have come from flooding in November, but hot weather and poor conditions in January could have contributed to short fibers. In the heat wave in January, some growers may not have been able to keep up with irrigation schedules, and that may have contributed to shorter fibers."
 

May 30

N is still in for cotton
Nitrogen fertilizer was applied on 83 percent of U.S. upland cotton acreage during 2000 in the 11 states the Department of Agriculture surveyed for its annual Agricultural Chemical Usage report.   The area treated with phosphates totaled 63 percent of the planted acreage in the states surveyed:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee producers reported the greatest use of phosphates, treating 95, 94 and 93 percent of their planted acreage, respectively. The largest increase in phosphate use was in Louisiana, which showed a 21 point increase from the previous year. Potash was applied to 53 percent of the area planted to upland cotton for the 11 states surveyed. Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia producers reported the highest percentage of acres treated with potash. Arizona and California continued to be the smallest users, treating 8 and 12 percent of the acres, respectively.

Herbicides were applied to 95 percent of the upland cotton planted acreage in the states surveyed. Most states showed decreases from the previous year, although Arizona, North Carolina and Tennessee showed increases of 4, 3 and 3 percentage points, respectively. Texas' use decreased 5 points from 1999 levels. Glyphosate replaced Trifluralin as the most commonly used herbicide, and it was applied to 56 percent of the acreage. Trifluralin was applied to 39 percent of the planted
acres, down 13 percentage points from 1999.

Insecticide applications were made to 80 percent of the upland cotton planted acres in 2000 for the 11 states surveyed. Most states showed decreases in use from the previous year, although use increased in Tennessee, Arizona, North Carolina and Mississippi. Louisiana's percent of acres treated was unchanged from 1999. Malathion, at approximately 31.9 million pounds, continued to be the active ingredient with the highest total pounds applied for upland cotton.

Area treated with other chemicals totaled 61 percent of the 2000 planted acreage. North Carolina's use of other chemicals showed an increase of 34 percentage points from 1999. Tennessee's use of other chemicals was up 4 percentage points from the previous year. Texas continued to treat the smallest percent of acreage with other chemicals, at 29 percent, 3 percentage points below last year's use.

Pillowtex scaling back
KANNAPOLIS, N.C.  — Citing the continuing decline in market conditions and as part of its restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Pillowtex Corp. announced Wednesday
that it will close a sheet manufacturing plant in Kannapolis and a towel yarn manufacturing operation in Columbus, Ga.  The company also plans to scale back towel production in Kannapolis.

The restructuring eliminates the jobs of approximately 590 employees in Kannapolis and approximately 190 employees in Columbus.  Pillowtex began notifying affected employees on Tuesday.

Bob Haase, Pillowtex's executive director for operations, said the restructuring eliminates excess manufacturing capacity brought about by declining towel and sheet sales and will allow the company to better align its production capacity to sales. Net sales were down more than 16 percent in this year's first quarter as compared to the first quarter of 2000, he said.

Plant 4 in Kannapolis will be closed by July 15, 2001.  The plant employs approximately 200 management and hourly employees and manufactures low thread-count muslin and percale sheeting fabric. Production of certain goods currently manufactured at Plant 4 will move to the company's remaining sheet greige facility, Plant 16, in nearby China Grove.  The building housing Plant 4 will be marketed for sale.

Restructuring at Plant 1 will affect approximately 390 hourly and management employees in the No.1 weave department and portions of towel wet finishing, towel fabrication, and towel distribution. The company will phase out the looms operating in the No.1 weave department over the next several months. The company will continue producing bath towels, hand towels and washcloths in the No.2 and No.6 weave departments, and Plant 1's more modern towel weaving operations. After the restructuring, 3,500 employees will remain at Plant 1.

The yarn department in Columbus, Ga., will close by July 15. The department employs approximately 190 persons and produces yarn for towel weaving. Production of certain yarn currently manufactured at Columbus will move to the company's towel yarn manufacturing department in Kannapolis and to its yarn manufacturing plant in Tarboro, N.C. The company will continue to operate the towel warping, bleaching and dyeing departments in Columbus. The company's towel manufacturing operations in neighboring Phenix City, Ala., will not be affected. After the restructuring, 1,150 employees will remain at Columbus and Phenix City.

The Georgia Department of Labor intends to have representatives on-site at the affected facilities to provide direct access to claims filing, information about possible job opportunities, job retraining and other unemployment benefits.  Pillowtex human resources managers at each location will help with questions concerning company benefits.

Employees at the Kannapolis and Columbus locations are represented by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. Pillowtex and the union will begin negotiations to determine other applicable benefits including the possibility of hiring at neighboring Pillowtex facilities for the affected employees.

Pillowtex's brands include Cannon, Fieldcrest, Royal Velvet, Charisma and private labels.  The company filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on Nov. 14, 2000. Pillowtex currently employs approximately 12,200 people in manufacturing and distribution facilities in the United States and Canada.
 

May 31, 2001
Parking the planters
Cotton planting is proceeding splendidly across the U.S. Cotton Belt, with 81 percent of the expected acreage planted as of Sunday, according to USDA's Crop Progress report. That is 3 percent ahead of the five-year average and 2 percent ahead of last year at the same time.

California, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia had finished planting their cotton at the end of last week, and Arizona, Louisiana and Mississippi likely have finished by now.

Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina each had less than 10 percent of cotton acreage left to plant as of Sunday.

South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas still have substantial portions of their crop to plant. While South Carolina and Georgia are behind their average planting schedules, Texas and Oklahoma are considerably ahead of their five-year averages.

Although Texas is at the bottom of the list in terms of planting, it leads the pack in percent squaring, with 10 percent of its crop already showing squares. Louisiana is next with 6 percent, Arizona with 5 percent, Alabama and Missisippi with 4 percent each, and California and Georgia with 3 percent each. Arkansas has 1 percent squaring.

High cotton down under
Last season's Australian crop is coming in smaller than projected, but the quality is outstanding, according Australian Cotton Shippers Association Chairman Cliff White.

"This year's crop has come close to our best crop -- in 1998 -- on the basis of grade, staple length and strength," White says in this week's Cotton World.

Production will be about 3.1 million bales instead of 3.4 million to 3.5 million that had been estimated earlier. Flooding followed by extreme heat reduced yields.

"That's still a large crop and enough to meet contracts," White says.

Don't overlook overwintered boll weevil control
By James F. Leser, professor and extension entomologist, Texas A&M University

With overwintered boll weevil survival at very low levels following the coldest winter since the boll weevil became an economically damaging pest in the Texas High Plains, many cotton producers may feel they can overlook boll weevil management this year. This may be particularly true with the
depressed cotton outlook, three active eradication zones and with the remaining two zones to activate this year. But remember that these remaining zones will not become active until September. This leaves plenty of time for the weevil to build up to damaging levels before the Texas Boll Weevil
Eradication Foundation takes over all control responsibilities for boll weevils.

Producers in the Northern High Plains and Southern High Plains/Caprock zones still need to manage the boll weevil till late season this year. This means treating fields for overwintered weevils where necessary. Overwintered boll weevil control is designed to destroy adult weevils before
eggs are laid in squares. Effective suppression of these weevils will keep the first and sometimes even the second summer generation of boll weevils below the treatment level, thereby avoiding treatments at a time when bollworm and beet armyworm outbreaks are likely to occur. These overwintered boll weevil applications will often reduced the total number of insecticide applications that will be required for season long weevil control, will reduce yield losses and will probably carry producers all the way through the season until the foundation can initiate its diapause applications.

Because of the low surviving overwintered boll weevil population, most fields will probably not require any treatments, while those that do may get by with a single application. The key to success is to identify those fields that will need to be treated. Rely on field history to determine if a field is likely to be a candidate for overwintered boll weevil control. If the field usually has early weevil problems or had lots of late activity because of a late-maturing crop, it may be a candidate for careful monitoring. Likewise, if a field is near prime boll weevil overwintering habitat, producers might expect a higher probability of the need for overwintered weevil control.

The simplest and most efficient method for determining the need to treat for overwintered boll weevils is the trap index method. Boll weevil pheromone traps should be placed along field margins at least two weeks before squaring begins. This allows for a "settling in" period and a backup week in case the week for decision-making is compromised by adverse weather conditions. At least four to five traps should be used for fields of up to 100 acres. Traps must be checked regularly and kept in operational condition to insure reliable information.

Check traps weekly and determine the average number of weevils captured per trap for the week that first pinhead- to matchhead-size squares appear. This is the trap index. If more than one but less than two weevils per trap week is your index value, you will need to scout the field for adult weevil activity to make a reliable decision. Any trap index below this represents a situation where no treatment is required. If the trap index is above two, a treatment is probably justified. If a trap index value of four or more is obtained, a second application should automatically be scheduled four to five days after the first.

Once cotton is producing pencil-eraser-size squares and weevils have begun to colonize the field, trap efficiency declines and no longer provides a reliable measure of the need to treat for overwintered boll weevils. Once cotton is blooming, the need for overwintered boll weevil control is seldom justified and the risk of creating secondary pest problems increases.

Several insecticides are registered for boll weevil control including Guthion, Vydate, methyl parathion, Phaser and Thiodan, malathion and Penncap M. Vydate has been the most popular choice because of the good control it provides without causing significant reductions in beneficial insect numbers. Banded ground applications can significantly reduce the cost of overwintered weevil sprays. Boll weevil control is rarely justified if yield prospects are one bale per acre or less.

(Courtesy of Plains Cotton Growers Inc.)
.
Motes & Linters
Items of value in a small space
Hake moves up 
Kater Hake has been named vice president for technology development at Delta & Pine Land Co. The newly created position includes oversight of the development of new products from inception through commercialization, according to Steve M. Hawkins, D&PL president and chief operating officer.

Hake has more than 20 years' experience in all aspects of the cotton industry, most notably as head of the National Cotton Council's Cotton Physiology Education Program. He holds a Ph.D. in botany and plant physiology and an M.S. in agronomy and plant breeding from the University of California at Riverside and Davis.
Deltapine Seed

 Biotech e-zine
Biotech and You is a monthly online magazine produced by the Council for Biotechnology Information. It features articles on advances in food biotechnology, feature stories written by farmers, researchers and other biotech experts, and a monthly online poll about biotech issues.

The inaugural issue includes the story of Donna Winters, a third-generation cotton producer and grandmother in Lake Providence, La., who tells how biotechnology has helped improve her crops and her farm. 
http://www.whybiotech.com
 
Revised chemical use report
USDA has issued a correction to its report, Agricultural Chemical Usage: 2000 Field Crops Summary. The original report, released earlier this month, combined the use estimates for the pesticides metolachlor and S-metolachlor.
Corrected report