Top 5 Key Questions About Cotton Farming Answered | Insights for Sustainable Growth
Damian Mason asks Matt Miles five questions about cotton production:
Why are these cotton plants planted on 40-inch rows?
How often do you apply plant growth regulators (PGRs) to cotton plants?
What's the difference in yield between irrigated and non-irrigated cotton fields?
Have we seen a reduction in cotton acres in the U.S. due to competitive products?
In 10 or 20 years, do you think cotton will still be produced on your land, or will it phase out?
00:00 Hey there, asking a few quick questions about cotton to our extreme Ag Cotton expert Matt Miles. You're the only cotton producer in extreme Ag. 00:06 Johnny Rell, the very first video I ever recorded with him, they made the big switch here at Rell Farms 00:10 to go away from cotton and go to corn. You did that to a certain tune 15 years ago. We're in a cotton field that's at Valls 00:17 that they're doing just for research purposes. We just shot a video, a longer video, all about teaching temple about cotton. 00:23 I still have a few quick questions. First off, why are these planted on 40 rows? Well, uh, we've, we've learned that a, 00:29 a cotton plant will do better the further you space it out. Like we said, it was a tree to begin with. 00:33 So if you plant a tree, you know, in the middle of a bunch of other trees, it's gonna be small and spiny. 00:37 If you plant it on the edge of a, you know, by itself, it's gonna have big lateral branches on it. When they talk about planting trees, 00:43 like when you're gonna reforest an area, if you plant them tighter, it forces them up. That's right. Yeah. And so it does force 'em 00:49 to be tall versus going outward. And it's the same thing with the soybeans. The same thing with, and now we're learning about 00:53 corn with skip spacing. Corn. Well, in A tree, you're wanting that main stem. Yep. If you would say for your wood, 00:59 what we're wanting here is all this branching. So you see all the different lateral branches. This plant was out here by itself. Yep. 01:05 You know, and you see this with soybeans. You'll go up and see a soybean on the end of the turn road. I have 200 pods on it. Yeah. 01:09 And it's tiny. It's Only this short. Yeah. Yeah. And then this plant's a lot shorter. But see that's what we're looking for. 01:14 If this plant was in the ground, it's hitting me about my belly bucket. Yeah. And that everything, beans 01:19 and all, we want it to be that short. Okay. So this one happened to be out here in a drowned area, 01:23 which is why it bushed out. Okay. So you put 'em before? Well, It, it, it bushed out because it had space. 01:27 It just like, it had, well it didn't need to force itself to get sunlight. Well, look At what we're looking for is a shorter node, 01:33 just like we do in, in soybean. You see right here, you know, that's about two finger widths. 01:38 Yep. That's what you want to the next node. Okay. That's when we use the PDR. Take this one that's out in the field. Yep. 01:44 You know, from that one to that one, It's about four five. Five Fingers. Five fingers. Okay. So 01:48 this is not what you want. Right. You want more bushing. Okay. So That's where the width comes from. Okay. 01:52 And in the previous year, you said you used plant growth regulators. How much, how often do you put plant growth regulators on a 01:56 cotton plant to make it so that it doesn't become a tree? We Start at the very, we start in 02:00 during the vegetative stage. Yep. Putting a small amount on there. And then in the end, like he'll probably pick this again. 02:06 We start like eight to 10 ounces. Okay. And then we'll end up with 32 in the End. So you put plant growth regulars 02:11 on four times? Oh, we probably put 'em on eight times. Eight times. Okay. Next. Anytime we're going across 02:15 the field, we're putting a plant growth Regular. Next question. We're in a field that's dry. 02:18 A lot of people may not know this if they're from, you know, North Dakota, uh, we think of the south 02:22 where they grow all the cotton, but it doesn't have to be irrigated. What's the difference in yield 02:25 between the irrigated and non irrigated? Well, that All depends on where you're at. I mean, to be honest with you, uh, in our area, 02:30 the difference in yield's gonna be a thousand pounds versus 1500, a thousand pounds being as good as a irrigate, as 02:37 As a bad field can do. And 1500 on irrigate. So you're picking up 50% more on irrigated. Why do we still see 02:43 as many cotton fields when right now I'm, no offense. I think I'm wearing something that's only part cotton and it's got spandex, it's got polyester, 02:50 it's got rayon in it. Have we seen a lack, I'm sorry. Have we seen a reduction in cotton acres in the United States due 02:56 to competitive products in the last 50 to 70 years? Let me ask you this. Have you ever dried off of a polyester towel? 03:02 No. Okay. So that would answer in your blue jeans, You know, and sheets. Yeah. Sheets and stuff like that. 03:08 So there's always gonna be a need for the cotton. Now where the acres have been reduced is when corn prices and bean prices increased. 03:15 And cotton prices decreased, like in the early two thousands. So We go, we switch over as Johnny did 03:19 from, from cotton to corn. All right. Temple, you got a question for him? I'm sure right here at this field. 03:23 You've never been to cotton Field before? What's your quick question for Matt? I I really, this this crop is so far away from me. 03:31 The, the amazing part about it is, is that again, these guys have figured out how to stunt these plants. It's everything that we've been trying to do in the other, 03:40 in the, you know, in the soybean industry. We've been trying to figure that out. We, and it seems like those guys have got 03:46 that figured out for me. My takeaway is, is I think I figured out a few more things. You know, Matt used to rag on me all the time about you go 03:54 across the field too much. You're, you know, as far as beans go, you know, you go across the field too many times. 03:59 Fungicide, sex side, PGR, come find out. He's been doing it all along on cotton. I didn't even know it. Fertility. 04:04 Let's talk about fertility. I asked him for a question. All I did was just say that you ragged on him. So I asked him for a question. He gave you a complaint. 04:10 Fertility, you told me when I was in Arkansas, all my landowners that wanted to make the most money out of their land insisted that I grow 04:16 cotton year after year after year. 'cause it was, you know, king cotton as we used to learn history class. 04:20 You've gotta have a tremendous amount of fertility and disease issues when you're putting the same plant in the same acre year after year after year after year. 04:26 You do, it's no comparison when you rotate. And that's something we've had to, I guess, educate ourselves on. And our landowner. And 04:32 Your landowners, right. Is The fact that this is a robbing plant. So this plant is gonna scavenge 04:36 and get every ounce of fertilizer in the ground, whether it needs it or not. Okay. It may not need it, but it's gonna take it up. Right. 04:43 So you've gotta have something to replenish that. You've gotta have some organic matter. This gives you basically, you would think you would 04:48 get organic matter outta this. Yep. This sucker, all he's wanting to do is get his mu out out of the ground as he can. 04:54 And back to your pgs. The pg r that we put on this to make it short will not work on soybean. You figured that out too. Didn't I 05:00 Figured that out several Years ago when we talk about organic matter. Okay. This thing's a tree. 05:04 You told us that in another video. So when a tree gets done, it takes a long time for the decomposition of a woody product 05:11 to end up back in the soil. That's gotta be part of the other depletion issue. Yep. That's exactly because You 05:16 go through and you chop it up. Basically you're throwing out with like a bush hog, almost like you go through the field when a cotton harvest 05:21 is done, you're flinging out little pieces of bark. But it doesn't become, it doesn't become organic matter right away. 05:26 It takes a lot longer to break down than say a leaf. It does. Yeah, Exactly. Okay. 05:29 And then money, uh, it's an expensive crop crop to produce. And right now you're not really making much money on it, 05:34 but it's still there. Do you still have landlords that are old fashioned, say king cotton. King cotton. Grow my cotton. 05:40 I mean, 'cause it's, it's always been expensive crop to produce, but also expensive crop to sell. It's been an uphill battle. 05:45 Uh, what what what has to happen is these we're on share rent. So these corn and soybean prices have to equal 05:51 or get close to equaling on some land owners. Yep. Or they won't even consider it. Now I've got some land owners 05:56 that want a rotation no matter what. 'cause they see the importance to it Long term for the soil. But 06:00 you're looking at more yield long term. 10 years, if you'll rotate cotton, even if you did cotton every other year for five years, 06:06 your average yield will be so much better. Your average revenue from that acre will be so much better. So long 06:11 Term, if you're, if you're a long sighted investor, you should go ahead and incur the rotation. Yes. Absolutely. Okay. 06:16 Last thing I didn't know about cotton. Uh, anything that you, that you, we haven't asked Man, I think you've asked about everything. 06:22 All right, I'm gonna go with one for you. In 10 years, 20 years, when you're starting to phase out, is it lane still gonna be growing cotton on uh, 06:28 the acres in McGee, Arkansas or do we end up seeing uh, you know, a transition where we we transition outta cotton 06:34 because of all the things you talked about? Environmental regulations make it so we can't spray all the time. 06:40 Or maybe it's just not enough economics and it's gotta be somewhere where the ground is cheaper. Do you see cotton being produced in your 06:45 part of the world a decade from Now? I think it will still be produced now. What you've said with the environmental regulations 06:49 and the different in exercise. 'cause you have to put so much spray on it. Now. What I will say to address your question about the 06:55 multiple trips, that's why we were so happy when beans went to $10 and corn went to four. 07:00 Now this was back in early 2000. Yeah. But we didn't have to mess with this anymore. I mean, where a spray, this is the most intensive managed. 07:07 It's it's cousin of vegetables. His name is Matt Miles. His name's Temple Rhodes. Two grand dayss of extreme ag talking about the questions 07:14 that you've always had about cotton that I've always had. And I hope you came along with it. 07:17 We like talking cotton with him 'cause he's the only cotton producer, also the only rice producer. 07:20 We'll do more of those as well. Till next time, check out all the videos these guys do on their farms. 07:24 Extreme Ag Do Farm also the podcast. It's so much more information. It's a library of free information you can 07:30 enjoy@extrememag.farm. Till next time.
Growers In This Video
See All GrowersTemple Rhodes
Centreville, MD
Matt Miles
McGehee, AR