Agriculture, even on family farms, has seen tremendous advances over the last 35 years, and cotton farming is no exception. There is no better example of this dynamic than the Warren family farm located in Lamesa, Texas.
Jackie Warren and his two sons, David and Rob, are using a host of modern technologies and methods, including precision agriculture, advanced soil mapping, and the application of composted organic material to produce cotton and other crops with environmental sustainability for current and future Warren generations in mind. The United States is the third-largest producer of cotton in the world, behind only the much more populous countries of India and China. The 2017 U. S. crop produced almost 21.5 million bales of cotton, or approximately 11 billion pounds of cotton. Due to the advances in farming techniques and technologies, as well as the development of seed varieties that are pest resistant and require less water, the yields per acre on cotton farms are much higher than in years past.
Advances in farming practices have resulted in a reduction of 31 percent in land use, 82 percent reduction in water consumption and 38% less energy used in the past 35 years. (Cotton Leads)
This YouTube video, produced by Cotton Council USA, tells the Warren family’s story, giving some fresh insights into today’s environmentally responsible and sophisticated, high-tech farming practices implemented routinely here in the U.S.