USDA Agriculture Marketing Service Provides Update on Cotton Classing Issues

Nov 29, 2021

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Deputy Administrator Darryl W. Earnest has provided an update to cotton industry stakeholders Nov. 23 to discuss issues the agency has encountered delivering cotton classification results to producers on the 2021-crop.

Earnest notes that while the Agency’s Cotton Division strives to process and return classing results within 72 hours, the 2021-crop has presented them with a number of challenges that have prevented it from consistently meeting the 72-hour target. Among the issues impacting the delivery of cotton classification services this year are attracting labor and the timely delivery of parts and materials needed to service equipment.

Earnest said acquiring and retaining adequate seasonal employees at all ten of the agency’s locations has been a challenge and has hampered their ability to consistently operate on a multi-shift basis. He notes that the agency is implementing a number of incentives to attract new employees including pay increases, shift flexibility and other incentives to overcome current shortfalls and improve office operations.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.