Specialty crop group petitions EPA on herbicide-resistant crops
A coalition within the U.S. specialty crop industry has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) for dicamba- and 2,4-D-tolerant crops, saying more study of the technologies is needed.
Record cotton stocks overwhelm market
Cotton futures prices are starting to reflect a projected record worldwide surplus in supply. December 2012 futures prices had dropped from 97 cents per pound in February to around 77 cents in early May.
Agricenter turning sunshine into electricity
Agricenter International, long known for turning sunshine into bales of cotton and bushels of grain, is now converting sunshine into electricity, thanks to a new 1 megawatt solar farm.
Hundreds pitch in to help St. Jude children
Donna Cathcart died 19 years ago at the age of nine from a rare form of brain cancer. In the years since, a fundraiser held in her honor has raised over $2.3 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.
Louisiana trying to safeguard $766,000 weevil fund
Louisiana state legislators are considering several bills to insure that $766,000 in boll weevil eradication funds are not included in a fund sweep that Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to help balance the state budget.
Louisiana fighting another kind of weevil battle
The Louisiana state legislature, Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain and cotton industry leaders are trying to halt an attempt by Gov. Bobby Jindal to divert $766,000 in boll weevil eradication funds to help balance the state’s budget.
William “Bill” Brown produces soybeans and friendships
The flood of 2011 tested many a farmer in Mississippi, and William “Bill” Brown was no exception. But by the end of the season, he had made his soybean crop despite a very late planting. The season also confirmed a number of friendships for the affable Brown.
Cotton demand ‘creeping’ higher
U.S. cotton acreage will probably fall short of USDA’s projected 13.15 million acres, but exports could be higher than projected on increases in world demand and continued stockpiling of cotton by the Chinese.
Cotton acres down 11 percent at 13.15 million
USDA is projecting U.S. cotton planted area for 2012 at 13.15 million acres, 11 percent below last year. But the estimate may already be starting to fall as cotton producers shift some intended acres to corn.
Cotton quality: high marks in 2011
Mother Nature threw everything but the kitchen sink at the U.S. cotton crop in 2011, but producers did manage to produce a high-quality crop relative to past years, according to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
