This year reminds us that what happens tomorrow is much more important than what happened today.

Even though cotton production is off to a very late and wet beginning across the Southeast and Mid-South, much of the Southwest has received very timely and beneficial rains. Better weather tomorrow offers the potential for a bigger and better crop.

The U.S. cotton industry is disappointed with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission’s report.

In a statement issued May 22, the National Cotton Council notes that, for decades, the Environmental Protection Agency has subjected pesticides to rigorous review and eliminated those that were deemed unsafe. Current products have been tested and re-tested to protect the farmer, the environment, and the consumer.

The year 1965 gave us the song “Catch Us if You Can.” Reference to those lyrics fits the scenario of a market continuing higher and higher. Maybe just the mention of it will seed a price jump in the market.

Yet, for now, we must be content with a continuation of a market just backing and filling, headed nowhere and going nowhere.

Let’s tip a cap to Jason Kelce.  

Yes, that Jason Kelce. All-Pro center and Super Bowl champion with the Philadelphia Eagles. Big brother to Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce…and thus, a personal friend of Taylor Swift. Now retired from his playing days, he’s become his own corporation of sorts, including broadcasting, podcasting, social media, and his own YouTube channel…not to mention endorsements.

In USDA’s March 31 Prospective Plantings report, farmers said they intended to plant 9.87 million acres of cotton this year – down 12% from last year. Some industry observers expected as much as a 15% decline. I wonder now if, in fact, that’s where we’re headed. New crop prices (Dec.‘25 futures) haven’t helped.

New crop cotton prices held the 70-cent line…well almost, slipping as last Friday’s trading session expired leaving the weekly close at 69.87 cents.

Joe Nicosia, Head of Cotton at Louis Dreyfus Company and 2024 National Cotton Council Chairman, believes it’s time for the U.S. cotton industry to reset its thinking and approach to trade, marketing, consumer education – practically everything.

Patrick Johnson is well aware of what he’s getting into this year as the newly elected chairman of the National Cotton Council (NCC).  

He’s been handed a plate overloaded with farm policy and political issues (including a screaming need for a new farm bill), continued economic distress at the farm level, and market challenges from foreign competitors, export customers, and manmade fibers — just to name a few.