Bolivar Bullet
Mississippi Delta Cotton: Legislation is being considered to bolster a comeback
By Mark H. Stowers. DBJ Writer
The Daily Bullet - Vol. 38 No. 76
Cotton was once considered the “King of the Turnrow.” First planted in the 1700s, the crop flourished in the South, especially in Mississippi and as land across the Delta was cleared from swamp to plowable plots, more and more acreage was planted in cotton. By the 1800s it was “the” crop and by the 1930s more than 4.163 million acres of cotton was planted in Mississippi alone. Cotton started to decline in the late 1990s with the rise of corn and soybean commodity prices and the government backing of ethanol spiking corn production and prices. The number of cotton gins in the US has fallen from 2,254 in 1980 to only 446 in 2024. In Mississippi, there were 181 in 1991 and now only 33 are in production across the Magnolia State. Brazil has overtaken the US as the world’s top cotton exporter and the number of US textile mills has fallen from 3,919 in 2002 to 1,146 in 2022.
The kingly stature of cotton began a free fall as farmers began spreading acreage to more profitable and less input costly grain crops. Brian Pieralisi, the Mississippi State Extension Cotton Specialist, noted, “USDA has cotton at 300,000 acres for the 2026 growing season. This is down slightly from last year. We had 320,000 in 2025.”
“Market prices drive the decision for the most part,” added Pieralisi. “Prices were low during most of the planning stages for 2026. However, starting in March prices did go up to almost $0.90—we haven’t seen that in several years. December futures have been trading near 0.80 lately.”