Cotton production in the United States
[2] Cotton production is a $21 billion-per-year industry in the United States, employing over 125,000 people in total,[1] as against growth of forty billion pounds a year from 77 million acres of land covering more than eighty countries.
As the chief crop[citation needed], the southern part of the United States prospered thanks to its slavery-dependent economy.
[9] Plantation owners brought mass supplies of labor (slaves) from Africa and the Caribbean to hoe and harvest the crop.
It was by far the nation's main export, providing the basis for the rapidly growing cotton textile industry in Britain and France, as well as the Northeastern United States.
[11] After the Civil War, cotton production expanded to small farms, operated by white and black tenant farmers and sharecroppers.
[13] Although there was some work involved in planting the seeds, and cultivating or holding out the weeds, the critical labor input for cotton was in the picking.
This obstacle heavily impacted the cotton industry because it caused many small plot farms to fall due to the inability to produce, loss of market connections, and financial difficulties.
This organization focused on promoting research and marketing itself to stand a chance against the synthetic fiber companies and raise money for themselves.
Over the years, CI overcame obstacles and prevailed and in 1988 partnered with textile mills forming the Engineered Fiber System which spread globally.
The adoption of chemical pesticides to reduce diseases and thus increase the yield of the crop further boosted production.
On September 25, 1961, Herbert Lee, a black cotton farmer and voter-registration organizer, was shot in the head and killed by white state legislator E. H. Hurst in Liberty, Mississippi.
[23] Although the industry was badly affected by falling prices and pests in the early 1920s, the main reason is undoubtedly the mechanization of agriculture in explaining why many blacks moved to northern American cities in the 1940s and 1950s during the "Great Migration" as mechanization of agriculture was introduced, leaving many unemployed.
[26] A report published by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service ranked the highest cotton-producing states of 2020 as Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, California, and North Carolina.
[27] The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) and pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) are significant insect pests of cotton.
During much of the 20th century, these pests caused substantial economic damage to the U.S. cotton industry, impacting producers and local economies.
In 2018, APHIS, in collaboration with industry partners, successfully eradicated the pink bollworm from commercial cotton production in the United States.
[28] According to a study by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, deer are a significant pest to the state's cotton crop, causing an estimated $152 million in annual damages.
The deer population in Georgia has experienced substantial growth, increasing from approximately 6,000 in 1950 to an estimated 1.1-1.2 million today.
[30] Four out of the top five importers of U.S.-produced cotton are in North America; the principal destination is Honduras, with about 33% of the total, although this has been in decline slightly over recent years.
[32] In Japan, especially Texas cotton is very highly regarded as its strong fibers lend themselves perfectly to low tension weaving.
The California cotton industry provides more than 20,000 jobs in the state and generates revenues in excess of $3.5 billion annually.
[38] In the late 19th and early 20th century, federal agricultural engineers worked in the Arizona Territory on an experimental farm in Sacaton.
By the early 1900s, the botanist Thomas Henry Kearney (1874–1956) created a long staple cotton which was named Pima after the Indians who grew it.
Missouri soil allows for the growth of upland cotton with the average bale weighing approximately five hundred pounds.
