Auburn, Jan.31---It doesn’t get any more Southern than this: Cotton farmers dined on catfish and hushpuppies, while they were updated on the latest advances in production technology at the 24^th annual Cotton Production Meeting.

About 45 cotton producers from five east and central Alabama counties attended the meeting, cosponsored by the Lee County Extension Office and Adventis, a major chemical supplier, and held at Good Ol’ Boys Restaurant near Auburn on Jan. 31.

The meetings, held each January, cover all facets of cotton production, from weed to insect control. This year, producers also were updated on progress being made on reconciling two competing versions of the new farm bill.

"As overall Extension delivery methods have changed, so have many of the areas of cotton production," says Dr. Jeff Clary, Lee County Extension coordinator. "On one hand, boll weevil cotton production techniques have gotten simpler, thanks to advances in boll weevil eradication, Bt (transgenic) and Roundup Ready cotton."

On the other hand, Clary says, these advances have produced a whole new series of other challenges.

"The management decisions are now much more critical because of the narrow windows during which farm chemicals can be applied," he says. "Also, the use of herbicide-resistant cotton within a no-till production system has opened up a whole new set of challenges for farmers.

"As an added challenge, producers also face a pervasive nematode problem that did not exist more than 20 years ago," Clary says.

"If these aren’t challenging enough, producers also have to weigh the benefits of underground irrigation – a major issue following several years of prolonged summer drought – and cotton prices that are as low as in the 1950s.