Cotton prices found a favorable move in front of the USDA November supply demand report and maintained that momentum despite a neutral report. The market continues to be dominated by the bullish cotton on-call sales position. Too, with just six trading sessions before first notice day (FND), the certainty of a squeeze on the December contract adds to the bullish short-term outlook.

San Antonio, Texas, is the destination city for the Beltwide Cotton Conferences Jan. 4-6, 2022. The Cotton Consultants’ Conference will be held Tuesday, Jan. 4, noon-6 p.m., for all registered attendees.

The consultants’ meeting will provide technical pest management and production-related updates from industry experts.

Alan Lowman picked up the smart tablet, made a few swipes on the screen. The map popped up. There was one just up the road that would be good to go check.

Just outside the southwest Georgia cotton field, the yellowish-green cone sat atop the fiberglass stake about three feet off the ground. "Stand back," Lowman said.

Louisiana cotton producers only planted just over one hundred thousand acres this just completed growing season. At one time, Louisiana had over a million acres of white gold.

But a lot of those acres were switched to corn since it was cheaper to grow and prices were higher. But that’s not the case anymore with December cotton selling for well over a dollar a pound and December ‘22 cotton staying above 90 cents a pound.

Cotton prices found a new life of contract high early in the week, traded to a high of 119.47, and spent the remainder of the period attempting, somewhat successfully, establishing the 117-cent mark as a new price support level. Yet, it does not appear that such a support level has been clearly established. Thus, trading back down to 115-cents can still be expected. The climb above 119 cents has set the market’s sights on 125 cents and the 125-135 cent range.

Someone strapped a big blue ribbon to a boll weevil trap, maybe to celebrate the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, but more likely someone saw the boll weevil trap as a good spot to proclaim the birth of a healthy baby boy. Either way, it was creative.

Farmers are a pickin’ and a grinnin’ this cotton harvest with the prospect of strong yields and record-high prices.

2021 will be a memorable year for most cotton producers pertaining to profit and productivity potential despite a challenging growing season for many. Commodity analysts say growing cotton in 2022 will likely be financially rewarding, as well, though rising input costs could minimize earning power

As the month of October fades and November commences, traders are beginning to think about December’s deliveries. Spot December’s FND falls on Nov. 24, and currently there seems to be about 26,000 bales of stocks. With the 2021 crop so late and strong demand, it would appear there could be a further ramping up of price. Thus, the Dec/March spread has widened to some 300 December over.

There was a lot of movement in the market last week, only to end up right back where it started. After a week of ups and downs, the December contract settled at 108.26 on Friday while March 22 closed at 106.19, up two cents from its previous close but well within its 104- 113 cent trading range.

China, Volatility, On-Call Sales, Shipping Backlog, and Late Harvest remain the buzz in the cotton market. Contrary to the opinion of a few traders, and speaking to the total of the textile mill sector, the cotton market is neither tanking nor headed anywhere but up. The market is consolidating its price activity within the five-cent range around 108 cents.

Yield maps are considered as a year-end report card for a farm that shows us what worked and where. Most consultants and growers utilize cotton yield maps at the end of the year to evaluate field performance and how certain management practices may be adjusted in the next season to maximize productivity across the whole field.

Quality of yield data is important to make sound and informed crop management decisions. Errors in yield data can occur at various stages of cotton harvest.

Frank Appleberry has a list of things to apply each spring to his crop fields in Tillar, Arkansas: preplant fertilizer, preemergence herbicides and oh, don’t forget the liquid blend of pulverized caterpillars, teeming with live viruses.

It sounds unconventional, but for a growing number of American farmers, this type of bioinsecticide is proving a regular and reliable tool to control Helicoverpa zea, the multi-crop pest known as soybean podworm, sorghum headworm, corn earworm and cotton bollworm.