Cotton quality in the bale reflects the history of the cotton and is not limited to cotton ginning. A computerized process control system can substantially improve fiber quality and increase the monetary returns to the cotton farmer and textile mill. The current process control system known as "IntelliGin"utilizes the cotton market price and the performance characteristics of gin machinery to determine the optimum drying level and machinery sequence. Cotton moisture, color, and foreign matter measurements are made with electronic devices at three stations in the gin system and are used to feed forward and feed backward to control the gin process. Special routing valves are used to bypass or select any combination of seed cotton cleaners, driers, and lint cleaners as directed by a computer. When gin machinery is bypassed, the quantity of marketable lint is increased and the amount of fiber damage is decreased. The gin process control system minimizes fiber damage and machinery usage while optimizing profits. Control of fiber moisture and gin machinery increases bale value, increases fiber length, increases fiber yield, reduces short fibers, reduces neps, improves removability of seed-coat fragments at the textile mill, and decreases the number of seed-coat fragments.