Memphis High Cotton Harvest

by Amy Curtis

Title

Memphis High Cotton Harvest

Artist

Amy Curtis

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

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.

Uploaded

October 4th, 2023

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