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Cotton

Cotton is grown on a multitude of soil types and under many different environments in the Western and Central regions of Tennessee.  Production of the crop across TN’s rolling hills, creek bottoms and alluvial flood plains commonly results in management activities and strategies unique to each individual field. This diversity in production systems speaks to the adaptability of the commercially grown cotton cultivars and the ingenuity and resilience of TN’s cotton producers.

Tennessee generally produces between 200,000-350,000 acres of cotton and with an average yield between 700-900 pounds of lint per acre.  Cotton is produced in 23 counties statewide with the majority grown in the western part of the state (production map).  Irrigated cotton acreage has increased in recent years but the majority of the cotton acreage is non-irrigated.  Tennessee has long been a proponent of conservation/no-tillage systems with approximately 52% of the cotton grown no-till and an additional 24% grown using some form of conservation tillage.  Additionally, Tennessee has rapidly adopted the use of transgenic varieties with >95% of the acreage planted to herbicide-resistant and Bt-cotton varieties. Given TN’s location on the northern edge of the Cotton Belt, earlier maturing varieties generally out-yield their later-maturing competitors and the most successful growers place a strong emphasis on earliness.

To find out more about current University of Tennesse Cotton Research and/or Recommendations for TN, click one of the topics on the banner to the left side of the screen, choose from the quick-link resources listed below, or contact UT’s Cotton Specialist for additional information.

Quick Link Resources

Cotton Cultivated Website -Provides a portal that integrates websites, downloadable documents, social media, and real-time news feeds that have been “cultivated” in an effort to reduce the time spent sort through pages of irrelevant search results..

Marketing

2021 Cotton Focus Video Series

The 2021 University of Tennessee Cotton Focus Meeting has been moved to a VIRTUAL event.  Instead of delivering all content live on a single day, a series of recorded videos will be posted through the month of February and into March.  Follow our blog (news.uctrops.com) to see videos immediately after they are posted.  Links to all content will be also shared below.