If you've had a chance to check out our cotton yields dashboard and you do a little digging you'll notice that cotton is grown best in south west between Arizona and California! How interesting!
Most people would assume the best cotton is grown on the opposite side of the country in the south east, with traditional cotton growing states of the deep south. However today the greatest cotton yields are found in Arizona and California. Texas yields around 700 lbs an acre, Alabama is averaging around 760 lbs per acre, and Georgia is doing around 800 lbs per acre. In Arizona and California the states are averaging around 1000 lbs per acre. Arizona is planting yearly around 150k-200k acres of cotton.
Arizona and California cotton is some of the whitest, highest-quality cotton around. Some of the finest extra long staple cotton was bred in Arizona. The west's irrigational innovations has allowed the cotton growing to flourish even with tough water restrictions. This has allowed the southwest to develop some of the highest yielding, highest quality cotton.
During World War 1, Goodyear purchased a large track of land and grew cotton that was used to develop the rubber tires for the war. Keeping a rich history of high quality cotton alive and strong.
Did you know that? What else do you know about cotton?