About this time each year, cotton specialists emphasize that variety selection is the most important decision cotton growers will make as they get ready to plant.
That annual advice, almost a cliché at area and regional production meetings, comes with a bit more urgency this year as producers look at some new variety options that include new technology. They also face a market that’s, at best, disappointing. And they will plant their first crop under a new farm law that leaves cotton dependent on insurance to cover price or yield losses, according to Southwest Farm Press.
Gaylon Morgan, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension state cotton specialist, says every other decision a cotton farmer makes during the growing season will relate in one way or another to the variety he selects and he recommends growers plant multiple varieties, based on data from multiple years of trials and across multiple locations.
“Choose technology based on specific field challenges and production expectations,” Morgan added. “Choose varieties that can help you spread risk and are complementary to one another.”