Nearly half of the cotton consultants, Extension specialists and industry representatives who attended the consultants conference at the 2010 Beltwide Cotton Conferences expect upland cotton acres to increase by at least 10% .
Nearly a quarter of them expect acreage to increase by at least 20%.
That said, more than one-third of the 200 or so attendees believe technology fees are the greatest input cost and most believe they need to be lower. However, none of the speakers want to go back to the days before Bt and Roundup Ready cotton.
Roger Carter, of Agricultural Management Services Inc., Clayton, La., is one of those who doesn't want to grow cotton without seed traits. However, Carter wondered: "Have we reached the point where we're paying more than we're getting out of it?"
The audience's answer was a "yes." In the survey, 26% say the technology is priced much too high and another 37% believe it's a little too high.
"When we put so much money into the front end of the crop we don't have much to work with later on," Carter says.
On the other hand, Louisiana State University AgCenter entomologist Rogers Leonard sees seed traits as valuable risk management. With Bt cotton and, especially, varieties with stacked traits, Leonard says growers know what their putting into a crop and have a good idea of what they'll get out of it.
With unpredictable pest pressure and weather conditions, those who grow conventional cotton don't have that security, he said. "It becomes quite a more variable system," Leonard said. "It increases risk."
The difference in the attitudes regarding tech traits in cotton largely lie in whether the discussion is about insects or weeds. Insect resistance prior to the introduction of Bt cotton bolstered it's value. Weed resistance issues in recent years make that technology less valuable.
"In my state, Flex cotton doesn't bring anything to us in terms of weed control," University of Georgia Extension weed scientist Stanley Culpepper said. "We can't wait to spray until fifth or sixth leaf. We need to spray at 2 or 3."
Ultimately, Arkansas consultant Bob Griffin said, "When the producer doesn't think it's worth it anymore, he'll go back to growing conventional cotton. I don't want to go back."
