A Closer Look at the Great American Cotton Plan
Jun 4, 2026 · 38 min · 9 segments
On the heels of the USDA’s announcement of the Great American Cotton Plan, Robbie Minnich of the National Cotton Council drops in to discuss the new initiative.
Jun 4, 2026 · 38 min · 9 segments
On the heels of the USDA’s announcement of the Great American Cotton Plan, Robbie Minnich of the National Cotton Council drops in to discuss the new initiative.
Robbie MinnichGuestHilary WinnI am here in the Mid-South, here in Memphis, Tennessee, where we have moved out of our, uh, Old Testament, uh, level of rainstorm flooding, uh, that we've had for the past two weeks, two straight weeks of rain every day.
And knock on wood, it's over, hopefully, and we are presently enjoying some sunshine out there, and that is probably helping to get this young crop up and going out there here in the Mid-South.
To that end, we got a new USDA crop progress report here a couple days ago on June 1, and it reflected, uh, some improved planting conditions, uh, here in the Mid-South, notably, uh, compared to the same time last year in 2025 when we had a terribly wet spring here in Mississippi and in those river counties of Tennessee.
Uh, Mississippi, uh, has planted 83% of its cotton acres compared to just 52% at this time a year ago, as an example.
Similarly, Tennessee is up to 93% of its cotton seed in the ground compared to just 79% a year ago.
So these warmer and drier conditions are a welcome development, particularly when compared to last year.
Notably, too, Arkansas at 88% completion of planting, and that's up from, that's up from 83% in 2025 at this point.
Elsewhere around the Belt, Georgia has planted 72% of its cotton crop, and that holds very close to its five-year average.
Texas is lagging behind most of the rest of the Belt with only 56% of the Lone Star State's cotton seed in the ground as of June 1.
But for context, that's really only three percentage points off of the state's five-year average, so, uh, we know that there's still some time to make things happen there in Texas.
Uh, nationally, we've got two-thirds, 66%, of the cotton seed is in the ground, uh, across the US Cotton Belt as of June 1st, and that is tracking right on top of our five-year average according to USDA.
I am here in the Mid-South, here in Memphis, Tennessee, where we have moved out of our, uh, Old Testament, uh, level of rainstorm flooding, uh, that we've had for the past two weeks, two straight weeks of rain every day.
And knock on wood, it's over, hopefully, and we are presently enjoying some sunshine out there, and that is probably helping to get this young crop up and going out there here in the Mid-South.
To that end, we got a new USDA crop progress report here a couple days ago on June 1, and it reflected, uh, some improved planting conditions, uh, here in the Mid-South, notably, uh, compared to the same time last year in 2025 when we had a terribly wet spring here in Mississippi and in those river counties of Tennessee.
Uh, Mississippi, uh, has planted 83% of its cotton acres compared to just 52% at this time a year ago, as an example.
Similarly, Tennessee is up to 93% of its cotton seed in the ground compared to just 79% a year ago.
So these warmer and drier conditions are a welcome development, particularly when compared to last year.
Notably, too, Arkansas at 88% completion of planting, and that's up from, that's up from 83% in 2025 at this point.
Elsewhere around the Belt, Georgia has planted 72% of its cotton crop, and that holds very close to its five-year average.
Texas is lagging behind most of the rest of the Belt with only 56% of the Lone Star State's cotton seed in the ground as of June 1.
But for context, that's really only three percentage points off of the state's five-year average, so, uh, we know that there's still some time to make things happen there in Texas.
Uh, nationally, we've got two-thirds, 66%, of the cotton seed is in the ground, uh, across the US Cotton Belt as of June 1st, and that is tracking right on top of our five-year average according to USDA.
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