ABSTRACT

Researchers in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, (DAE/MSU), in cooperation with scientists at other locations and other agencies began investigating alternative systems of cotton production during the 1999 production season (Parvin and Cooke, 1999). Initial research efforts focused on no-till (NT) cotton production (Parvin and Cooke, 2000; Parvin, Martin, and Cooke, 2002b; Parvin and Stephens, 2001b) and ultra-narrow row (UNR) cotton production systems (Parvin, Cooke, and Molin; Parvin, Martin, and Cooke, 2002a; Stephens and Parvin). While preliminary survey results indicated both systems were promising, the researchers found that cotton production systems based on skip-row (SXR) planting patterns (Parvin, Cooke, and McCarty; Parvin and Stephens, 2001a) were an attractive alternative to standard or traditional methods (systems) of cotton production on a large portion of Mississippi cotton acreage. Surveys designed to measure differences in NT, UNR, and SXR cotton production systems indicated an emerging system of production which the authors initially labeled "limited seedbed/chemical tillage" (LS/CT). These systems combine deep tillage and no-till systems of production (Parvin, Cooke, and Martin, 2002).

Many of the earlier publications proved to be very popular with growers, extension specialists, lending agencies, and others because they contained complete budgets for one or more sampled growers describing every "trip-across-the-field", listing each material applied and the amount applied. A limitation of the earlier reports was that they tended to compare a single alternative system of cotton production to the "standard" method of producing cotton in the Delta area of Mississippi (labeled "Cotton, 8R-40, Solid, Sandy Soil, Usual Practices, Standard Variety", in the DAE/MSU annual cost of production publications). This publication is a response to numerous requests to produce a single document which compares several systems of cotton production (old v. new, traditional v. alternative) across soils groups, variety types, planting patterns, tillage practices, and equipment size. This report summarizes 156 alternative systems of cotton production in terms of yield, costs, and returns.