Broader Extension Programs for Cotton Growers.  The general, one-stop-shop of Extension information for cotton growers is http://cotton.tamu.edu.  Also, the main website for extension agricultural economics in Texas is http://agecoext.tamu.edu/ .

Extension Cotton  Marketing Resources.  Extension economists and county agents are involved in a number of marketing clubs which provide growers an opportunity for more regular interaction and discussion about marketing. We facilitate the monthly Ag Market Network activity which connects growers and marketing clubs with panels of knowledgeable analysts. To support all these efforts, we also have an extensive on-line library of short articles about various topics related to marketing and risk management. A good, comprehensive and cotton-focused on-line bulletin about the cotton futures market is available courtesy of my colleague Blake Bennett and Cotton Incorporated. A paper about Texas cotton transportation and logistics compares current cotton flow data with information from the 1980s and 1990s. With permission from the good folks at Cotton Outlook, I am reprinting here a descriptive, background article entitled Trends and Prospects for Texas Cotton. And similarly, with permission from ICAC, here is a reprint of an article discussing the role of the fund sector in recent cotton price volatility. Lastly, here is an article about the potential impacts of expanded trading hours on the CME. Although this doesn’t affect cotton, it does reflect on how expanded trading hours on the ICE may forecast the changes to the CME.

A  study of 2010 cotton marketing practices, outlets, and performance (i.e., merchant contracts, merchant pools, cooperative pools) is available here.  It focuses mainly on Texas growers.

A 2016 study of hedging whole cottonseed with CBOT soybean futures and soybean meal futures is summarized here.