ABSTRACT

Much has been written that suggests the structure of cotton farms is changing (Morehart et. al., Christensen, and Hoppe et. al.). The direction of the change has been toward larger and more efficient farms. The 1997 Census of Agriculture revealed 1700 cotton producers in Mississippi, 72 percent of which were located in the MS Delta. Overall characteristics of Mississippi farms as reported in the 1997 Census were 65 percent full ownership of farm land, 96% family/partner ownership of the farming operation, 3% corporate ownership, 6.8% of the farms contained 1000 acres or more. Planted acres of cotton in Mississippi Agricultural Statistics Service (MASS) districts 10 and 40 totaled 525,000 acres in 1997. The future of cotton production in the MS Delta depends on how farm structure adjusts as government policies, market prices and production costs change. In order to capture all the effects of policy, price and cost changes, a current description of MS Delta cotton farm structure is needed. A mail survey was conducted in the spring of 2002 of cotton producers in the MS Delta. A mailing list was obtained from county agricultural agents consisting of cotton producers in their respective counties. The counties included were Bolivar, Coahoma, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tunica, and Washington. These are often referred to as the ten all "Delta" counties and correspond to MASS reporting districts 10 and 40. The purpose of the survey was to solicit information regarding the structure of MS Delta cotton farms. Based on the information the respondents provided, cotton farm structure in the MS Delta appears to be changing. The trend is toward larger equipment, more acres per farm and more acres per piece of equipment. These larger farms utilize less labor that in the past, due possibly to larger equipment. Respondents to the survey appear to be younger than the general farm population. The most common farm sizes appear to be farms of 501-2500 acres followed by farms ranging from 2501-4500 acres.