Cotton’s Agenda

from Cotton Farming January 2022

Specialists Speaking

Gary Adams

1st Trust Protocol Annual Report Out

The 2020-21 U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® Annual Report reveals that this “made from scratch” system for sustainably grown U.S. cotton made significant progress in its first year.

What is the Trust Protocol’s overall goal?

■ This science-based sustainability initiative is delivering a better future for U.S. cotton. It contributes to the planet’s preservation by bringing quantifiable/verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable U.S. cotton production while driving continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics: land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency. The Trust Protocol also is helping meet the needs of brands/ retailers in the fashion/textile industries, which are being asked to provide product sourcing data. In fact, The 2020-21 U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® two-thirds of surveyed Annual Report reveals how a new standard sustainability deciin sustainability is being established. sion-makers at 1,000 brands/retailers in the United States and the United Kingdom said having this data is important to their sustainability goals.

How about first-year achievements?

■ Producers, gins, merchandisers, mills, manufacturers, brands, retailers, along with industry and non-governmental organizations came together to support the Trust Protocol in the midst of a global pandemic. The inaugural Trust Protocol Annual Report at https://report.trustuscotton.org/ revealed these specifics: 1) some 950,000 cotton bales, representing 6% of U.S. cotton grown in 2020-21, were enrolled in the Trust Protocol; 2) approximately 300 producers enrolled for the 2020 cotton crop; and 3) efforts have begun toward bringing on board 3 million bales of U.S. cotton for 2021-22 and enrolling 50% of U.S.-grown cotton by 2025.

The Trust Protocol also now counts 560 organizations across the supply chain as members. This includes more than 525 mills/manufacturers and 37 global brands/retailers. Among those were: Advance Denim, one of the top three Chinese denim manufacturers; Gildan; Tesco; Levi Strauss & Co; and PVH Corp., one of the largest global apparel companies, and its brands Calvin Klein and TOMMY HILFIGER. Work continues toward a second-year goal of enrolling 100 global brands/retailers and 1,000 mills/manufacturers. All enrollment targets will be reviewed and updated each year.

Any other success?

■ The Trust Protocol now is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and recognized by Textile Exchange and Forum for the Future. It also is 1) part of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a global, industrywide nonprofit of more than 250 members working to reduce environmental impact and promote social justice throughout the global value chain; and 2) a member of the Cotton 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge, Cotton 2040 and Cotton Up initiatives; and 3) collaborating with the TextileGenesis™ platform enabling it to become the world’s first sustainable cotton fiber to offer full transparency across the supply chain. Protocol Consumption Management Solution pilot trials were begun with selected brands and mills, with full deployment envisioned for early 2022.

Crucial to future success will be ongoing support of U.S. cotton producers as they seek a smaller environmental footprint through their participation in the Trust Protocol. A priority will be maintaining a focus on innovation and working to understand the latest technologies/techniques. While expanding this sustainability initiative will be important to meeting brand/retailer demand, personal and corporate integrity will remain at the forefront.

Eddie Smith (right) farms with his son, Eric, in Floyd County, Texas.

‘Sky’s The Limit’

New Cotton Stripper Fits West Texas Farmers’ Efficiency Goals

BY MARY JANE BUERKLE

For generations, the Smiths of Floyd County, Texas, have embraced ways to help their fellow farmers by being leaders both in and out of the field.

One of their latest adventures has been working with John Deere to give brand-new cotton harvesters an official test run before they are made available to fellow producers. Eddie Smith and his son, Eric, have been running the new John Deere CS770 cotton stripper since they began harvest in October. This harvest marks Eddie ’s 48th cotton crop.

“I’m impressed,” Eddie said of the new machine, noting that he has been working with John Deere in this capacity for several years. The collaboration began when he met with their staff at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences and encouraged them to create an all-in-one stripper-baler, like they had done with the picker a couple years before.

“They (John Deere) have stepped up their game with the CS770, and we know they will continue to evolve and develop new technologies. The capacity of the machine is tremendous, and we just see a lot of positives going forward.”

One of the most visible and significant upgrades from the previous model, the CS690 — which Eddie also ran as a prototype before its release — is an optional 12-row folding header.

“Expanding to a 12 row was a great fit for us, especially with the folding header,” he says. “It definitely increases your efficiency when you’re moving through 2-bale-plus cotton.

“We were blessed with a good crop this year, and that gave this machine the opportunity to really shine. We have seen a better turnout at the gin because of the high-capacity cleaner. The extra capacity in the burr extractor in the machine seems to be doing its job.”

E iciency And Comfort

Eddie says John Deere has been “very thorough” in their research and in learning what producers need and can use for optimum harvest efficiency, along with some improvements that make spending hours in the cab more comfortable.

THRIVING IN COTTON

Hardy Variety Exceeds Expectations In 2021

Louis Heckmann and his wife, Debbie, farm 1,100 acres of dryland cotton they rotate with corn and milo in Fort Bend County, Texas.

Historically, they grew a high-yielding competitive variety, but in 2020 they decided to try PhytoGen® brand PHY 400 W3FE.

“We thought PHY 400 W3FE was good enough to compete yield wise with the other high-yielding variety we had grown for years, and we were right,” he says. “We made a good decision in changing over.”

Louis says PHY 400 W3FE has good vigor, a strong root system, bacterial blight resistance, WideStrike® 3 Insect Protection, and the Enlist® weed control system to fight resistant waterhemp.

“Our cotton is managed for 3.5 bales per acre, which is now a possibility in the Texas Upper Gulf Coast region with the new varieties when the weather is right. In 2020, our average yield was 3.25 bales per acre.

“We need rain because we are dryland, and the varieties we have now will stack a lot of fruit quickly. You must have nutrients available relatively early compared to the older varieties.”

PHY 400 W3FE Thrives Despite Bad Weather

In 2021, Mother Nature stepped up and threw a curve ball, starting with excessive rain in May.

“Our cotton started off dry,” Louis says. “Then the rain began after we had some of the crop set on the bottom, so a lot of the bottom crop had boll rot. We started trying to regrow the cotton to make more fruit. This was difficult to do because it was raining in the flowers. When this happens, cotton sometimes is not able to pollinate, so it sheds that piece of fruit.

“With more than a month of rain, we ended up growing a top crop and a crop farther out on the limbs of the plant. That’s where most of our yield came from in 2021.”

And after a long, drawn-out growing season with a lot of water on heavy ground that doesn’t drain well, more nitrogen was needed. The nitrogen just wasn’t available.

“We had to sidedress most of our cotton twice with nitrogen,” Louis says. “We had never done that before. But PHY 400 W3FE responded well to the added nitrogen and kept putting on fruit. It was like the plant didn’t want to quit. Because we’ve had years like this in the past, that’s what I look for in a variety — one that will come back and put on more fruit if it has enough nutrients.”

In mid-September, Hurricane Nicholas came through followed by a front that produced strong northern winds.

“PHY 400 W3FE stayed in the burr well even though the hurricane loosened up the cotton,” Louis says.

“We had a really good crop last year, even though we lost some of it to the hurricane. With all the early rains and the late season storm, our average yield was still 2.75 bales per acre.” Outstanding Fiber Quality Package

Although high mic is common in this area because of rain, heat, boll load and fertility, Louis says he has seen very little high mic with PHY 400 W3FE.

“We also have to plant varieties with good staple length,” he says. “Long, cotton buyers come looking for you. Short, they won’t look at you.”

And even though PHY 400 W3FE got hit with its share of adverse weather, Louis says about 75% of their cotton was premium grade.

“PhytoGen has some of the top varieties out there,” he says. “The breeding has gotten so much better. Right now, our best bet is to grow PHY 400 W3FE.

“We also are interested in trying PHY 411 W3FE that was just released for 2022. It’s supposed to yield even better than PHY 400 W3FE and has the same package as PHY 332 W3FE with both root-knot and reniform resistance.”

A True Family Farm

Louis and Debbie have been married 36 years and have four grown kids and two “grands.” Debbie, son Louis Jr. and daughters Kaley and Heather are actively involved in the family farming operation. The daughters scout cotton in-season and Louis Jr. is a full-time employee. Everyone pitches in to keep the family and crews well fed during harvest.

Texas farmers Louis Heckmann and his wife, Debbie, pose in one of their fields of PhytoGen® brand PHY 400 W3FE.

The CS770 has a 13.6L PowerTech 515 horsepower engine that runs at 1900 revolutions per minute. This boosts fuel efficiency, which can translate into long-term fuel cost savings.

The new cab in the CS770 is 30% larger than the CS690 and similar to the X9 combine cab, increasing visibility. The cab operator is surrounded by integrated technology that allows for constant monitoring of all the machine’s functions. Operators can work late into the evening more easily, thanks to LED lights with 360-degree coverage, and can connect their mobile devices to the unit’s CarPlay system. There’s even a small refrigerator in the cab.

“The cab and lighting are superior, and the software in these harvesters continues to evolve,” Eddie says. “We can make adjustments more quickly than we could in the CS690.”

Growers will have access to more data than ever before with the CS770, and precision ag technology is included in the factory’s base model now. Operators can know every detail about each module, from average moisture and weight to where it was dropped in the field. Data from the harvester can integrate directly with the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol for growers who are enrolled in that program.

The round modules are a little wider coming out of the CS770, but Eddie says that has not been an issue for transport or ginning. The module is also slightly denser, which can help reduce wrap and hauling costs.

Eric says the “sky’s the limit” regarding future technological evolutions of cotton harvesters.

“It’s amazing what this machine can do,” he says. “All of my inputs are going up, but my margins haven’t changed. It’s definitely a (financial) commitment, but it’s been worth it for our operation.”

Labor Savings

One of the reasons the new harvesters have worked well for the Smiths is because they have been able to save on labor costs over time. Eddie says he believes that’s a key reason why other producers have shifted from the traditional basket strippers to machines like the CS690 and eventually the CS770.

“We’re all looking for ways to improve our operations, and between the cost of labor and labor shortages, these new machines can help with that,” he says.

His crew also has been “very receptive” to the technology improvements. “(The harvesters) do cost a lot of money, but I

‘An Incredible Legacy’

Eddie learned the importance of rising to challenges in farming from his dad, Ed, and is passing that down to Eric. Ed passed away in January 2021, leaving an incredible legacy to Eddie and also to Eric.

“My dad was very supportive of the technological evolution as it happened, and he, like most of us, was in awe of what continues to develop,” Eddie says. “He’d been around since the days of hand-pulling cotton, and he watched harvesting advance into what we have today.”

Although Ed wasn’t directly involved in John Deere’s relationship with Eddie, he had a front-row seat to everything that was happening on the farm.

“One day several years ago when the team from John Deere was here with the first prototype, it was a beautiful harvest day. We had our own machine running and John Deere had their test machine running,” Eddie recalls. “They (John Deere) are very intense in their research and testing. In the middle of the afternoon, they went to the barn and started taking the machine apart to study some things. Dad called me and said, ‘Do you know what they’re doing?!’ He couldn’t believe they would work on machinery instead of taking advantage of the beautiful harvest weather. But he always supported what we did with John Deere.”

Eddie says that even after his dad moved into a senior living facility in Lubbock, he would come over to the farm every day.

“He’d say, ‘I’ve got a better view sitting right here, and I’m available if you need me to do something,’” Eddie says.

Ed was involved on several boards, and Eddie has served as chairman of the National Cotton Council, Cotton Incorporated and Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, among other leadership positions. Eric is balancing raising a young family with being involved in his community and helping run his family farming operation.

“My dad took my granddad’s dedication to the next level,” Eric says. “All I’m trying to do is perpetuate that, to continue that philosophy.”

Mary Jane Buerkle is a freelance writer based in Haskell, Texas. She may be reached at mjbuerkle@gmail.com.

West Texas cotton farmer Eddie Smith says moving to a 12-row harvester was a great t for their operation. “It de nitely increases your e ciency when you’re moving through 2-bale-plus cotton,” he says.