Crop conditions are putting a strain on the cotton industry.
“The fact that we’ve had a couple of just unfortunate crop years in the last couple of years that has placed a lot of strain on the producer-based segment, but infrastructure as a whole, we continue to advocate for issues on how we can address beyond the producer-based segment on providing a product essentially that helps downstream segments whenever the initial segment is struggling— because we all struggle on that,” according to the CEO of Plains Cotton Growers, Kody Bessent.
On the Farm Bill, Bessent highlights legislative actions in the House version noting a provision directing the Risk Management Agency to help.
“In the House version that GT and his folks marked up, does have the provision in there that would essentially instruct RMA to do some research and development of a product, if possible, to help with the quagmire that we have been put into over the last several years,” he explains. “And we’re not new to it. This has certainly been looked at.”
He says that the issues have been recurring since the early 90s, but are becoming more pronounced with recent infrastructure disruptions.
