By Ron Smith
Southwest Farm Press
The U.S. cotton industry loses from $600 million to $750 million per year to contamination that creates production and quality issues for mills.
“That’s a significant loss,” says USDA ARS Engineer John Wanjura, at the USDA ARS Gin Lab in Lubbock, Texas.
Contamination, mostly plastic, results in a loss in premiums U.S. cotton merchants once enjoyed because of its reputation as a cleaner, higher-quality fiber compared to cotton from competing trade areas with similar quality, Wanjura says.