Thursday Cotton Enews

America's Heartland stands center stage in telling the story of American agriculture. As the only nationally broadcast program of its kind, America's Heartland connects consumers to America's agricultural communities.  Started in 2005, the Emmy-award winning series has become a flagship program on public television stations across the United States, and has sustained its audience each season.  It is also a primetime ratings success, airing three times a week on RFD-TV, the cable and satellite channel highlighting the rural American lifestyle.  The program has reached an important milestone:  broadcasting its 100th episode to audiences on Public Television and RFD TV. In addition to its weekly broadcasts, the America's Heartland website at www.americasheartland.org provides videos, educational materials and links to consumers who want to know more about the program and about agriculture in America.

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(Farm Press) Estimates of U.S. ending stocks for cotton and soybeans continue to shrink, according to USDA's March 10 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

(Avalanche-Journal) LUBBOCK - Agriculture economists looking ahead at the next decade predict good news for the South Plains' cotton producers, the local economy and your closets.

(Southwest Farm Press) Several factors contribute to the recent increase in Texas cotton production, including improved management, better varieties and technology.

(Farm Progress) "Cautious optimism" turned into reality on Feb. 18, as Calcot's board of directors authorized a $5.1 million progress payment, the second of the season, though the first for some varieties.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted Wednesday to extend a host of soon-to-expire elements of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor.

OMAHA (DTN) -- Ray Gaesser will be one of the few lucky farmers who knows he will be able to share his thoughts on agricultural competition.

(Bloomberg) -- Benin plans to more than double cotton output this year through increased plantings and government support for the industry, Agriculture Minister Gregoire Akofodji said.

(Textile World) The president of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has urged the Obama administration to "re-think" including Vietnam in a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, claiming that including Vietnam would mean the loss of thousands of U.S. textile export-related jobs and put at risk hundreds of thousands of related apparel jobs in the Western  Hemisphere.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama pressed China on Thursday to move to a "more market-oriented exchange rate" in a speech where he laid out a plan to boost U.S. exports in the coming years.

(USA Today) MOUNT AIRY, N.C. — Jane Knudsen was a 19-year-old mother of two when she went to work in a textile mill here in 1973. Jobs were plentiful: "When you started work, you thought you'd be there until you retired," she says.

(DTN) World ammonia supplies were very tight through February, and world market prices moved up sharply.

(Farm Press) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been criticized by environmental activists for his support of biotechnology.