The environment that growers deal with in getting and keeping a stand can be considered as weather or climate. Who among us can do more than talk about weather? We are beginning this conference by talking about weather, the second most talked about topic during the conference.

Many cotton growers easily substitute adverse weather for faulty management in explaining stand failures to themselves and to their peers. My thesis today is that environmental risks can be neutralized or drastically reduced by management in getting and keeping a stand of cotton.