ARS | Publication request: 100 Years of Cotton Production, Harvesting and Ginning Systems Engineering: 1907

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: August 14, 2008
Publication Date: October 15, 2008
Citation: Hughs, S.E., Valco, T.D., Williford, J.R. 2008. 100 years of cotton production, harvesting and ginning systems engineering: 1907 - 2007. Transactions of the ASABE. 51(4):1187-1198.

Technical Abstract: The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) celebrated its centennial year during 2007. As part of the ASABE centennial, the authors were asked to describe agricultural engineering accomplishments in U.S. cotton production, harvesting and ginning over the past 100 years. The U.S. cotton industry has not existed in a vacuum but has always been influenced by social, political and economic forces as well as engineering developments throughout its history. However, for the purpose of this paper, the authors concentrated solely on describing engineering developments and practices in cotton production, harvesting and ginning and their influence on each other. In order to describe engineering developments from 1907 forward, it was necessary to lay some basic groundwork on what occurred prior to the last 100 years in the U.S. cotton industry.