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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381438
Research Project: Enhancing the Profitability and Sustainability of Upland Cotton, Cottonseed, and Agricultural Byproducts through Improvements in Pre-Ginning, Ginning, and Post-Ginning Processes

Location: Cotton Production and Processing Research

Title: The cost of ginning cotton - 2019 survey results

Author
item Holt, Gregory
item HARRISON, ASHLEY - National Cotton Ginners Association
item GREEN, KELLY - Texas Cotton Ginners Association
item FINDLEY, DENNIS - Southeastern Cotton Ginners' Association
item PRICE, TIMOTHY - Southern Cotton Ginners
item ISOM, ROGER - California Cotton Ginners Association
item Pelletier, Mathew
item Wanjura, John

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2021
Publication Date: 5/5/2021
Citation: Holt, G.A., Harrison, A., Green, K., Findley, D.S., Price, T.L., Isom, R.A., Pelletier, M.G., Wanjura, J.D. 2021. The cost of ginning cotton - 2019 survey results. Proceedings of National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, Virtual, January 5-7, 2021.

Interpretive Summary: The cost of ginning cotton is an important concern for producers and ginners. Data from this survey provides information about key variable costs as a component of the overall cost of ginning cotton. The data helps to identify trends of gin operation and document how the adoption of new technologies in cotton harvesting and ginning has impacted ginning cost. The new automated web-survey approach, that was launched in 2020, allows for the current year’s data to be stored to allow management to compare their operation to regional and national data. The survey was conducted for the 2019 cotton crop, which produced 19.4 million running bales and 5.9 million tons of cottonseed. This crop was gathered from 11.6 million acres with an 823 lb/acre average yield. In 2019, there were 531 operating gins, averaging a little over 36,500 bales per gin.

Technical Abstract: The cost of ginning cotton is an important concern for producers and ginners. Data from this survey provides information about key variable costs as a component of the overall cost of ginning cotton. The data helps to identify trends of gin operation and document how the adoption of new technologies in cotton harvesting and ginning has impacted ginning cost. The new automated web-survey approach, that was launched in 2020, allows for the current year’s data to be stored to allow management to compare their operation to regional and national data. The survey was conducted for the 2019 cotton crop, which produced 19.4 million running bales (USDA-NASS, 2020) and 5.9 million tons of cottonseed (USDA-NASS, 2021). This crop was gathered from 11.6 million acres with an 823 lb/acre average yield. In 2019, there were 531 operating gins, averaging a little over 36,500 bales per gin. Ginners returned 83 surveys, which represented a little over 4.05 million bales or about 21 percent of the bales ginned in the United States.