LUBBOCK, Texas – Americot provides competitive products within the marketplace to cotton growers across the nation, and the product that growers have come to trust is NexGen brand cottonseed.
West Texas growers were invited to the NexGen Field Day at the Texas Tech Quaker Farm for a comparison of experimental varieties lined up next to new release commercial varieties for what is called an A.C.E. Trails (Americot Cotton Evaluation).
The A.C.E. Trails span the Cotton Belt in 179 locations and allows the seed producer to compare different climates, scenarios and situations to see how the potential new products perform.
Cotton farmers have different needs depending on the area they farm in but the one thing they have in common is getting high yield points and the most pounds out of their crop.
The big seller for Americot this year in the Lubbock area was NexGen 4777, according to Dr. Thomas Brooks, Director of Western Breeding Program at Americot.
He said he anticipates the key varietal to look for next year is AMX1828 which has the BollGard3 Xtend Flex that offers three modes-of-action against insects.
It’s been a particularly tough season for most growers not just in West Texas but across the Cotton Belt.
“We have a low price, we have a market that is not very good for sales overseas at times during the season,” Dr. Brooks said. “So a lot of what we talked about here today is improved fiber packages on some of these new varieties coming to address that. Americot has been a market leader on bringing low cost seed to market with these trait packages in it. So that helps on the front end just on input costs.”
The focus of Americot is to continue to breed varieties that better combat disease, handle heat, stress and drought so that farmers get the most out of each bag, he said.
It stands to reason to push for bigger and better products because the owner of Americot, David Hicks, is a farmer in Seminole, TX and he faces the same challenges.
As the company pushes the envelope on grades they also back it up with knowledgeable field reps who strive to put the right variety on the right acre, he said.
“I always like talking to the growers” Dr. Brooks said. “I learn something every year. Definitely been good today.”
