Template:TitlePage Plant Spotlight

From Aggiegreenhouse

Plant Spotlight: Tues, Oct 20, 2009

It's that time of the year. No, not the holidays. It's the WINTER CROP time of the year. Don't get too excited. But what grows in cold weather and has played a HUGE part in transforming the lives of people since the founding of the U.S.A. You guess it: C-O-T-T-O-N. It is, "spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today." Rayon came to us from France in the 1890s and competes with the natural fiber of cotton. The USA is the world leader in cotton exports with average price received by farmers at $45.30 this year.

Leading cotton-producing countries

Top 3 cotton producers — 2009 (480-pound bales)
PRC	32.5 million bales
IND	24.3 million bales
USA	13.0 million bales
Source:National Cotton Council of America - Rankings