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Quality of the 2002 Crop

Robbie L. Seals

ABSTRACT

The overall quality of the 2002 American Upland cotton crop, which totaled about 14.7 million bales as of December 26, is significantly lower than that of the previous years. This crop was subjected to some of the most detrimental harvesting weather ever - mainly torrential rains which fell on opened bolls and saturated the fields in the southeastern and mid-south states. As a result of this weather, average fiber quality measurements were lower for color grade, leaf grade and extraneous matter. Staple length was just slightly lower when compared to the 2001 crop. Micronaire and length uniformity remained at the same level as the previous crop. The average strength increased significantly and was higher than any of the previous four crop years.

The percentage of official color grades that were 41/32 and higher was 74 compared to 87 percent for the 2001 crop. (Official USDA color grades were determined by HVI measurement instead of by classers for the 2002 crop. This change in official cotton classing procedures was first implemented by USDA in response to a unanimous request from the U.S. cotton industry for crop year 2000.) The classer leaf grade average was 3.4 in 2002, less desirable than the 3.0 of the 2001 crop. Through December 26, 2002, extraneous matter was identified in significantly more cotton than in 2001; extraneous matter was found in 5.5 percent of the 2002 crop versus only 3.1 percent of the 2001 crop.

Measurements of micronaire and length uniformity for the 2002 crop averaged the same as those factors in 2001 - 4.6 for micronaire and 81.3 for the length uniformity index. Strength measurements for U.S. cotton continued to increase for the second consecutive year, reaching an average 28.6 grams per tex in 2002, up noticeably from the average of 28.2 in 2001. Average staple length was slightly shorter for 2002 at 34.4 thirty-seconds. This was a slight drop from the average staple of 34.5 last year.

The quality of the 2002 American Pima crop increased from 2001. Grade 3 and higher accounted for 97.3 percent of the crop, compared to 96.7 percent the previous year. Average micronaire for Pima was up slightly to 4.1 units from 4.0 in 2001. Pima length was longer at 46.7 thirty-seconds and strength was higher at 40.8 grams per tex.





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Document last modified April 16, 2003