Polypropylene Bagging, Wire Ties And Module Averaging In The Spotlight
During the National Cotton Council’s Mid-Year Board meeting, a Strategic Planning Task Force met to develop a plan to help our industry address the competitive landscape and challenges we face. The task force made a number of recommendations, and all are important, but in this article, we will discuss the three that have the most direct impact on ginners.
The three recommendations I would like to bring to your attention are as follows: 1) Work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Marketing Service to establish module averaging as the only approach for classing cotton. 2) The Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee should establish a phase-out period for woven polypropylene bagging while investigating options for a more durable polyethylene bag and a lighter-weight cotton bag. 3) The JCIBPC should establish a phase-out period for wire ties.
Each of these recommendations will be discussed in January during the Beltwide Cotton Conferences by the National Cotton Ginners’ Association Technology Committee. In addition, these recommendations will also be addressed at the NCC’s annual meeting in February. After these discussions, the next steps for recommendations would be up to the USDA for the
module averaging and the JCIBPCommittee for the other two recommendations.
Woven PP Bagging Issue
Of these three recommendations, the most controversial one is probably the phase-out of woven polypropylene (woven PP) bagging. The U.S. cotton industry still uses a good bit of woven PP bagging — 46% of the crop in 2023, 77% in Texas — so this recommendation will likely come with a defined, significantly appropriate phase-out period.
The primary driver is that for years our textile customers have complained about contamination from PP bagging materials, and those complaints have only gotten worse. In fact, Cotton Council International indicates it is the biggest complaint from our textile customers. Additionally, China remains the largest export destination for U.S. cotton and their internal policy prohibits the use of woven “plastic” bagging materials and other plastics that contaminate.
The fear continues that at any time, this policy could be applied to U.S. bales. It should be noted that our largest export competitors, Brazil and Australia, are packaging 100% of their
bales in cotton. This is the reason for the recommendation that discusses investigating a lighter-weight cotton bag.
The proposal to phase out woven PP bagging is most concerning to ginning operations that have purchased automatic bagging systems made for this type of bagging and to bagging companies that have invested large amounts of capital into facilities that manufacture this type of bagging. While this is a di icult issue, it is one we must address, or we will likely lose more of our market share to the other competing countries.
Wire Ties, Module Averaging
Wire ties are used by a much smaller percentage of the industry than the woven PP bagging. Usage rates of wire strap is between 0% and 32%, depending on the state. To put those numbers in perspective, the top three states in percentage of wire tie use are at 32%, 22% and 19% respectively. In Texas, we use about 5% wire ties. The issues with wire ties are also connected to complaints from the end-users. The mills consider wire ties to be a safety and fire hazard. As with the bagging issue discussed above, we need to address wire ties to maximize our competitive abilities in the world market.
The issue of module averaging is di erent from the other two. Module averaging is used almost exclusively in some areas of the country and very little in others. With discussions on the fungibility of cotton and improving the overall e iciency of cotton flow, it would be optimal if all bales were classed in the same manner. Of the three, this issue is likely the least controversial, but it is still one that will a ect the ginning segment.
If we are to maintain and improve our competitiveness in the world market, it is important that we continue to improve our operations on an ongoing basis. These and many other issues will be discussed during the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, the NCC Annual Meeting and the JCIBPC meeting, all of which will be held in January and February.
Please give your association o ice a call if you have any questions about these or other issues a ecting your operation.
J. Kelley Green, TCGA executive vice president, contributed this article. It was first published in the September 2024 issue of The Ginnery. Contact Green at kelley@tcga.org.
First Bale Harvested Fetches $25,000 For Scholarship Fund
The o icial certified first bale of U.S.-grown cotton harvested in 2024 was auctioned for $25,500 at the annual First Bale Auction and Scholarship Fundraiser held by the Harlingen Cotton Committee and the Algodon Club on Sept. 19.
Verne Vanderpool of Alamo, Texas, harvested the bale on June 14 from a field planted to the variety DP 2020 B3XF and delivered it to Willacy Co-op Gin for processing. The Harlingen Cotton Committee gave Vanderpool Farms, LLC a $4,000 reward for delivering the first bale.
From le are Danny Gonzales – Deltapine and DEKALB eld sales representative; omas Human - Willacy Co-Op Gin assistant manager; Verne Vanderpool – farmer from Alamo, Texas; Wesley Vanderpool – farmer from Alamo, Texas; Savannah Chappell –Willacy Co-Op outside sales and Scott Stanislav – Deltapine and DEKALB technical agronomist.
The bale was purchased by the Deltapine seed brand for $15,000. Add-ons from Texas Farm Credit, Valley Co-op Oil Mill, Crop Guard Insurance, Capital Farm Credit, Elli4 Motors, Rio Bank, Total Technology and Robert Luehrs drove the amount raised for the scholarship fund to $25,500. The live and silent auctions of donated items held by the Algodon Club raised $44,800. Table sales and other donations raised an additional $29,000, for a grand total of $99,300.
The Algodon Club awards undergraduate scholarships to students actively pursuing a degree in an agricultural-related field while the Harlingen Cotton Committee provides grants to technical schools and community colleges for students and programs that positively support the local agriculture economy.
