ABSTRACT

Since Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and textile mills became mechanized, there have been some watershed inventions in cotton production. In the 20^th century, the development of the spindle cotton picker, moduling system, and advances in gin technology have certainly changed the way that we grow and process raw cotton. Weed control and the development of herbicides have had a tremendous impact on profitability, labor, and tillage. Synthetic insecticides and boll weevil eradication have significantly altered cotton production systems by making our yield less determinate on insect pressures, and more determined by other production factors. Cotton biotechnology and the advent of transgenic varieties could also be considered one of those watershed events.