I have been asked to talk about moisture and its effect on fiber quality. In looking over the titles of the presentations following mine on this program, I am confident that most of the speakers will mention moisture in some way and how it affects their topic of discussion. I had some misgivings about agreeing to discuss moisture because, first, its influence is so universal in cotton production that it is difficult to find a starting point of discussion and, secondly, since so much work has been done on moisture effects over the years it will be difficult to tell you anything new. I have chosen the time of cotton harvest as a starting point. This is where management decisions have a major influence on seed-cotton moisture content.