Participants in The First Forty Days™ and Fruiting to Finish™ Workshops generally agree that this forum for multi-disciplinary discussion was valuable and well worth the time and effort. Although an ideal crop production system consists of many components, a few inputs and practices are more valuable – indeed, critical – to yield, fiber quality, and profitability of the crop. These most critical inputs and practices were captured in the best management practices (BMPs) for cotton production discussed in The First Forty Days White Paper Compendium. The general consensus of the participants is that these BMPs should be promoted within each state’s research program and extended through Extension specialists and crop consultants.

The subsequent Fruiting to Finish Workshops, conducted after the 2006 production season and again prior to the 2007 season, employed the same process of information exchange and collaboration among multidisciplinary participants. The work groups expanded upon The First Forty Days’ BMPs, with a keen insight into the balance of the cotton production season. The result is a holistic crop production system that optimizes crop management and production.

The BMPs described here may or may not corroborate every crop consultant’s recommendation and cotton grower’s action. The recommendations agreed on by workshop participants had to demonstrate regional acceptance as general guidelines. None of these BMPs should supersede recommendations by individual state Extension specialists. However, as discussions of various issues crystallized the BMPs, several key points became apparent:

• Farmers are in a “sustainable ag mode of operation” – fighting for survival – which is driving their decision process concerning inputs and practices, such as weed control system, seed-applied vs. in-furrow pest control, etc.

• Speed and convenience have become primary decision factors, despite their potentially less-than-optimum value to an overall enterprise.

• Usually, the best yields result from earlier-planted cotton.

Acknowledgements:

Funding and administrative support for The First Forty Days and the Fruiting to Finish workshops was provided by | Bayer CropSciences.

Administrative support and leadership was provided by Jerry and Mary Jane Duff of | The Duff Company, Kansas City. MO.

Workshops to develop the material in the First Forty Days and Fruiting to Finish involved cotton experts from every region of the US Cotton Belt and every discipline involved in producing cotton. Please follow the following link for a list of particpants.

Cotton First Forty Days and Fruiting to Finish Contributors