Focusing on cooperative marketing associations (CMAs) in the raw cotton sector, this article asks how the federal government got involved in providing intermediate credit to farmer cooperatives. Around the turn of the twentieth century, farmers and financiers shared some key financial reform objectives, but it was only during and after World War I that the federal state began supporting CMAs’ access to credit through the Federal Reserve and War Finance Corporation. Key public and private actors appropriated decades-old Populist claims about cooperatives’ macroeconomic benefits to justify top-down efforts to support their development. Cotton played a central role in these institutional reforms designed to neutralize the danger that commodity markets and agrarian politics posed to US capitalism through centralized mechanisms of monetary and credit control. But even the creation of the Federal Intermediate Credit Banks in 1923 failed to provide CMAs with the generic working capital necessary to coordinate both production and distribution. Instead, federal policies focused on trade financing in the name of good financial practices and therefore patently ignored Southern Populists’ progressive dream of eliminating the crop-lien system.

The exchange of raw cotton and consumer textiles has been widely portrayed as a core element of European imperialism in Africa. The case appears straightforward: textile industries were vital to European economies, yet depended on imported raw cotton and external markets for their surplus output. To meet these needs, colonizers allegedly enforced trade and destroyed African textile sectors, leaving Africans to resist or be coerced. This stylized rendering of ‘cotton imperialism’ was central to metropolitan rhetoric promoted by textile sector lobbyists and government officials, and often remains unchallenged in scholarship today. I show, however, that it is at odds with actual colonial efforts and outcomes across twentieth-century Africa. Colonial cotton and textile trade did expand, but in ways hardly consistent with the aims of European industries, and even textile sector actors themselves showed limited and inconsistent commitment to cotton production in Africa. Policies on the ground were shaped above all by fiscal, administrative, and political priorities in the colonies. Metropolitan rhetoric mattered, but shaped colonial policies and practices only in muted and subverted ways.

Lygus hesperus is an economically important pest of many crops. An effective monitoring method for the early detection of L. hesperus could improve its management. A recently developed pheromone lure has been shown to attract L. hesperus males, however, fewer males were captured than expected. It is unknown whether this was an effect of pheromone responsiveness or the type of trap used. Thus, we compared the efficacy of the previously used white delta sticky traps to red cylindrical sticky traps in strawberry fields in California and cotton fields in Arizona. Collections were made 1 and 2 weeks after trap deployment. In strawberry, pheromone baited traps captured more L. hesperus males than unbaited traps. More males were collected from baited red cylindrical sticky traps compared with either type of unbaited trap. In cotton, baited red cylindrical traps captured more males than unbaited traps after 1 week of field exposure, but not after 2 weeks of deployment. Overall, red cylindrical traps caught more L. hesperus males than white delta traps. Diminished trap captures during the second week of monitoring may be attributed to high temperatures in cotton that likely shortened the lure’s longevity and windy conditions in both strawberry and cotton that may have decreased the effectiveness of the trap’s adhesive. Additional work to clarify the lure’s field longevity and distinguish various elements of trap design (e.g. colour, adhesive, and shape) may further increase the operational effectiveness of pheromone-baited traps for L. hesperus.

Late-season escapes of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp (both are Amaranthus species) pose a significant challenge in cotton production due to their high fecundity, herbicide resistance, and ability to replenish the weed seedbank at harvest. While harvest weed seed control (HWSC) has been adopted in grain systems, its feasibility in cotton remains unknown due to differences in cotton harvesting equipment design. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the fate of Amaranthus spp. seeds during harvest with cotton pickers and stripper harvesters, and evaluated the efficacy of an impact mill to destroy a range of weed seeds present in different types of cotton debris. Along with the seed cotton, cotton strippers removed 52% of the Amaranthus seeds, compared with just 7% with pickers, which are then cleaned at the cotton gin. About 85% of the seeds were retained on the plant after harvest by the pickers, and about 15% by the strippers. Seeds shattered to the ground accounted for 8% with pickers and 18% with strippers. Additionally, the cotton stripper’s field cleaner mechanism removed 15% of the weed seeds. Together, seeds collected in seed cotton, retained on the plant, or separated by field cleaners (in strippers) represent points for HWSC implementation. Different types of cotton debris were then run through a stationary weed-seed impact mill with a known number of seeds for seven weed species to determine seed destruction efficacy. The stem debris had a 29% moisture content, which is too high for the impact mill and caused mill clogging; however, seed kill levels of 98% were achieved in bur debris and gin debris types, values similar to those reported in grain systems. Together, these findings provide a framework for incorporating HWSC practices into cotton, offering growers and processors a way to reduce weed seedbank inputs.

Palmer amaranth and waterhemp are troublesome weeds in U.S. corn, soybean, and cotton production systems. Rapid evolution of resistance to herbicide from multiple sites of action in these species warrant alternate weed control options. Metribuzin applied preemergence can provide effective control of herbicide-resistant Amaranthus species. However, despite its decades of efficacy, many growers remain unaware of its weed control potential or are hesitant to use it due to concerns over crop injury. Field experiments were conducted in 2022 and 2023 in 15 states across the United States to investigate residual control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp with metribuzin applied preemergence to soybean. Sites had either herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth or waterhemp as the dominant weed species. Seventeen preemergence treatments were evaluated, including 13 doses of metribuzin (210 to 841 g ai ha-1), a dose of sulfentrazone (420 g ai ha-1), and a dose of S-metolachlor (1,790 g ai ha-1), along with nontreated and a weed-free control plots. Weed control and soybean injury were visually assessed and recorded at 14, 28, and 42 d after application (DAA) of preemergence herbicides. Additionally, weed density, weed biomass, and soybean height were recorded 28 DAA followed by a measure of soybean yield at maturity. Weed control was analyzed as a function of metribuzin dose and environmental factors using a generalized additive model. Crop injury of not more than 5% was predicted even with 841 g ai ha-1 of metribuzin. Metribuzin at 630 g ai ha-1 was more effective than sulfentrazone in delaying weed emergence and reducing weed density, while 315 g ai ha-1 of metribuzin outperformed S-metolachlor in both metrics. Metribuzin doses of 578 to 841 g ai ha-1 provided greater than 95%, 90%, and 80% weed control, respectively, at 14, 28, and 42 DAA. Higher metribuzin doses of 578 to 841 g ai ha-1could be safely to effectively control herbicide-resistant Amaranthus weeds.

The critical period for weed control (CPWC) has been used to define weed-control threshold triggers in many cropping systems. Using the CPWC to develop a weed-control threshold for broadleaf weeds that emerge later in the season would be valuable to cotton growers to enable them to schedule management of later emerging weeds to occur before crops suffer unacceptable yield losses. Field studies were conducted over two seasons from 2006 to 2008 to determine the CPWC for a broadleaf weed in cotton, using mungbean as a mimic weed. Mungbean was planted into cotton at densities of 1 to 50 plants m−2, at up to 450 growing-degree days (GDD) after crop planting, and removed at successive 200 GDD intervals after introduction, or left to compete full season. The data were fit to logistic and Gompertz curves. More complex models were developed and tested that included the time of planting and removal, weed density, height and biomass in the relationships. The CPWC models were able to predict the yield loss from later emerging weeds and together with an understanding of the expected growth rates of the weeds, the functions could be used predictively to determine the likely impact of delaying a weed-control input. This predictive element will be of value to cotton growers needing to coordinate weed-control inputs with other farm activities.

Increasing consumer demand for sustainably-sourced products has created a need to benchmark sustainability at the field level. To address this issue, some companies are offering incentives to producers, but are still lacking participation. This study estimated producers’ willingness to accept for participating in sustainability programs and implementing sustainable practices at the field level using a double-bounded dichotomous-choice framework. The results revealed preferences for longer contracts in length of time, industry as the verification party, supplemental benefits that yield an economic incentive, and a per-bale payment. This project will give new insights to the value and importance of documenting, verification, and traceability throughout the supply chain.

Cotton producers need residual herbicides that can safely and practically be applied postemergence. Herbicide-coated fertilizers could allow for simultaneous application of residual herbicides and a bulk fertilizer blend. Therefore, a study was conducted in 2022 and 2023 in Fayetteville, AR, to evaluate cotton tolerance to 12 herbicide treatments coated onto a fertilizer blend and applied over cotton. Herbicides and rates evaluated included diuron at 840 g ai ha−1, florpyrauxifen-benzyl at 29 g ai ha−1, flumioxazin at 105 g ai ha−1, flumioxazin + pyroxasulfone at 70 + 90 g ai ha−1, fluridone at 168 g ai ha−1, fluometuron at 840 g ai ha−1, fomesafen at 280 g ai ha−1, pyroxasulfone at 128 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil at 66 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil + dimethenamid-P at 25 + 219 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil + pyroxasulfone at 44 + 91 g ai ha−1, and S-metolachlor at 1,388 g ai ha−1. In both years, fluridone, fluometuron, diuron, and S-metolachlor caused less than 10% injury at 7 d after treatment (DAT). Higher injury levels were observed in 2022 (19% to 30%) compared with 2023 (4% to 12%) for flumioxazin, fomesafen, saflufenacil, saflufenacil plus dimethenamid-P, and saflufenacil + pyroxasulfone. The elevated injury in one of two years was attributed to the presence of dew when the herbicide-coated fertilizer was applied. The initial injury was transient, as the cotton generally had recovered by 28 DAT for all herbicides. No differences in seed cotton yield or groundcover among the herbicide treatments occurred either year. These results highlight the potential of using several postemergence-applied, residual herbicides coated onto fertilizer that are not currently registered for over-the-top use in cotton.

This work shows that direct combustion of cotton gin waste (CGW) at cotton gins can profitably generate electricity. Many bioenergy processing centres emphasise very large-scale operations, which require a large and stable bio-stock supply that is not always available. Similarly, a small biorefinery processing gin trash at a cotton gin must wrestle with the high volatility of cotton yields and price variation in cotton and electricity. Fortunately, the smaller scale allows these risks to be somewhat countervailing. Low cotton yields allow the limited gin trash available to be applied to the highest peak electricity prices in winter. Similarly, high yields with low cotton prices generate revenue from power generation throughout high winter electric prices.

To assess the profitability of an onsite power plant requires high-resolution data. We utilise hourly electricity price data from 2010 to 2021 in West Texas and obtain a small data array of 15 years of gin trash at a medium-sized gin. Prior analyses have had neither. We leverage limited CGW data to better leverage generous electricity price data by generating a Bayesian distribution for CGW. We simulate 10,000 annual CGW outcomes and electricity prices. Using engineering parameters for combustion efficiency, we show the expected internal rates of return of 19–22% for a 1 MWe and a 2 MWe plant at a small gin. Simulations then compare economic returns to the variance of those returns, which allows the analyst to present to investors a frontier of stochastic dominant return outcomes (risk-returns trade-off) for plants of different sizes at different sized gins.