The development and registration of new cotton herbicides has lagged behind the development of herbicides in other crops. Cotton farmers in the mid-south are currently fighting a losing battle against increasing broadleaf weed pressure. This is the result of increasing weed populations, greatly diminished use of hand cultivation, and the absence of effective herbicides.

A survey conducted in 1985 revealed many cotton farmers in northeast Louisiana were paying as much as $56 per acre for morningglory control (herbicide cost plus application). In certain cases even this large expenditure was not sufficient. The survey also revealed that due to the multiple herbicide applications often employed a fairly large percentage of the cotton plant, so treated were stunted or exhibited foliar damage symptoms.

Cotton farmers in the mid-south need and deserve better broadleaf herbicides. Perhaps some of the money and energy currently being directed toward herbicide research and development in soybeans should be directed toward cotton.