Separation of Color Grade and Leaf Grade -- AMS Overview

Mack Bennett


 
ABSTRACT

A new grading system went into effect for the 1993 crop year in response to a recommendation made by the National Cotton Marketing Advisory Committee. New standards of American Upland cotton for color grade and leaf grade went into effect July 1, 1993, as approved at the Universal Standards Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, in June, 1992. The physical standards themselves were unchanged, however, the labeling on the boxes revealed a change in nomenclature, e.g., instead of Strict Low Middling (41), the new standard was labeled Strict Low Middling (41) Color and Leaf Grade 4.

Color grade, leaf grade, and extraneous matter were classed and reported independently by AMS classing offices during the 1993 crop year. Previously, classers combined color, leaf, and preparation into a "composite" grade. Leaf grade distribution within the predominant White and Light Spotted color grades is shown in this report. This data includes classings of the 1993 crop through December 22 that totaled 14,482,000 bales. The predominant color grades were Strict Middling (21), Middling (31), Strict Low Middling (41), Middling Light Spotted (32), and Strict Low Middling Light Spotted (42). Leaf grade 3 was the predominant leaf grade in each of the above-mentioned color grades. Classer-to-classer check lot reproducibility from 100,000 samples randomly selected at 18 AMS classing office and reclassed at the Quality Control Section were at a level to insure accuracy to the industry for each quality factor.

The new grading system gives users in the marketplace more exact information relative to color grade, leaf grade, and extraneous matter. These three quality factors were masked to some extent when color and leaf were combined into one grade. Previously, grades were reduced when there was presence of extraneous matter. There are no reductions of color grade or leaf grade under the new grading system when extraneous matter is present.



Reprinted from Proceedings of the 1994 Beltwide Cotton Conferences pp. 158 - 160
©National Cotton Council, Memphis TN

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Document last modified Sunday, Dec 6 1998