Circuit Riders
December 17, 2009 Because this was my second go-round with our Annual Seed Preview issue – the one you’re reading right now – I had a pretty good idea of what goes into its production this year.
Essentially, for Editor Henry Gantz and I, much of the summer season is spent meeting up with various seed salesmen on dirt roads in rural areas to listen to them talk about their latest varieties. Ideally, we’d be standing there in the midst of a bunch of farmers, eager to hear what the new technology can do for them. To be quite honest, last year that simply wasn’t the case.
For whatever reason – be it weather or competitive crop prices – many of the field days we went to last year had pretty sparse crowds. The only silver lining for Henry and I was that there was always extra food to take home. Mercifully for all of us in the cotton industry, things have changed for the better.
The field days we went to this season unfolded just as they were planned: One part business meeting, one part social event. Seed experts from all of the major seed companies delivered their best stump-speeches to throngs of growers across the Belt.
So by the time I heard Joe Nicosia, commodity guru and CEO of Allenberg Cotton Co., make the first acreage prediction for 2010 that I’ve heard thus far, I was already expecting the good news. Nicosia’s projection? Nearly one and a half million more acres of cotton in the U.S. next year.
This issue should be especially helpful to those of you accounting for that bullish swing in cotton acreage. Our in-depth look at each of the new varieties for 2010 begins on page 14. We’ve also got a feature on one of cotton’s biggest foes, the stink bug, on page 25.
We’re taking a first look at what will be on the docket at the coming Beltwide Cotton Conferences, which are set to be held in New Orleans, LA, in January. Just like us, the National Cotton Council has been focusing on glyphosate resistance, and plan to address the issue in a big way at the coming Beltwide.
We’re certainly looking forward to the Beltwide festivities in New Orleans this year. It will likely be the next time we get to see many of you, as we get out of your fields in time to let you bring in this late crop.
Happy picking to you, and as always, we’ll see you out there.
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