Table of Contents

Vol. 30, No. 2 | Summer 1997

As most of you know, over the last couple of years the IRS has begun to attack the right of growers to defer payment for their crop to an ensuing tax year. While this practice is clearly allowed for regular tax purposes, the IRS has contended that it is not allowed for purposes of calculating… Read more »

Prolonged rain in West Texas and Oklahoma has turned what cotton farmers initially thought to be a blessing into an ever growing concern for the welfare of their crops. In addition to delays of as much as three weeks in some areas, many faced the possibility of disease attacking their newly planted crops. Yet, in… Read more »

Will Test Producers’ Management Skills Throughout the Season Erratic weather throughout the U.S. Cotton Belt has had an obvious, early impact on the 1997 cotton crop, and nowhere are the challenges that are being presented more pronounced than in South Texas. The situation there is expected to test the management skills of producers like never before.… Read more »

The absence of an area-wide boll weevil control program will require constant vigilance among individual Texas High Plains cotton producersin 1997 to keep in check the devastating pest that causes millions of dollars in losses annually. This personal responsibility may be compounded by the largest weevil numbers seen throughout the area based on early data.… Read more »

Views are mixed as most of the 1997-98 U.S. cotton crop is now up to a stand despite a somewhat rocky start. Unfavorable planting weather throughout most of the nation left much of the U.S. crop several weeks later than usual. Although the harvest is months away, at this time it appears the cotton crop… Read more »

The trend of cooperative mergers, designed to provide improved services and greater earnings potential for their patrons, has continued during the past 12 months as Farmers Cooperative Compress joined forces with Plainview Cooperative Compress in West Texas while Gulf and Delta Compresses combined operations in South Texas. A combination of factors, ranging from recent management… Read more »

South Plains Industrial Supply Purchases Consolidated Bearing to Better Serve Customers For more than 10 years, South Plains Industrial Supply (SPIS) has been a small, regional cooperative headquartered in Lubbock, TX. It was organized to provide parts and supplies to cotton gins, but with the recent purchase of Consolidated Bearing and Supply Company, SPIS has taken… Read more »

A Partnership Built on Quality glut of denim apparel in retail outlets has led to a downturn in the U.S. denim industry since late 1996. While several U.S. denim manufacturers have been forced to significantly reduce their production schedules, the impact on Plains Cotton Cooperative Association’s (PCCA) American Cotton Growers denim mill at Littlefield, TX,… Read more »

Coop Career Spans 44 Years Rex McKinney is widely recognized as an innovator and a leader whose influence on the U.S. cotton industry will not be soon forgotten. His willingness to lend a helping hand to any gin in a time of need parallels his goal of continually promoting service. “Rex is someone who goes… Read more »

After eight years of being president and general manager of South Plains Industrial Supply (SPIS), now doing business as Consolidated Bearing and Supply Company, Dan Fields will be retiring in July. His role in helping establish SPIS and his service to the company has been tremendous. From 1969 until his first retirement in 1989, Fields… Read more »