UACES Facebook Arkansas cotton gins sink to all-time low, but state has most productive gin in U.S.
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Arkansas cotton gins sink to all-time low, but state has most productive gin in U.S.

“Gins close for various reasons: a decline in cotton acreage, obsolescence, and consolidation with another gin.” — Scott Stiles

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

May 19, 2025 

Fast facts

  • NASS counts 26 gins in Arkansas
  • Count ties all-time low set in 2015
  • Marianna gin has top output in U.S.

(594 words)

(Newsrooms: with charts and file image of cotton harvest)

JONESBORO, Ark. — While the number of gins in Arkansas has declined to tie the all-time low of 26 set in 2015, the state still boasts the nation’s busiest gin. 

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, tracks the number of gins in the United States.

“Gins close for various reasons: a decline in cotton acreage, obsolescence, and consolidation with another gin,” said Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “It’s the continuation of a long-running trend.

“Are 26 gins enough? Maybe so,” Stiles said.

“The sheer number of gins seem small relative to the almost 2 million bales of volume ginned in 2024, but the overwhelming majority of gins are running well over 40,000 bales through them,” he said.

Stiles said Arkansas had the gin with the highest output in the U.S. in 2024 — McClendon Mann & Felton Gin in Marianna — ginning 242,706 bales of cotton that year.

A challenging crop

Cotton is a challenging crop to grow.

“Production costs are high relative to soybeans. It’s management intensive. The harvesting equipment is one-dimensional and takes a massive capital investment,” he said. On top of all that, for the U.S., cotton is an export-dependent crop and world trade of cotton is becoming more competitive each year.”

In recent years, the state's cotton acreage stayed in a range of 450,000 to 650,000 acres with growers responding to the market. Last year, Arkansas harvested 640,000 acres of cotton, according to NASS.

“The top end of the range was where we were in 2024 and that did extend the ginning season into early 2025 for a few gins,” he said. “That was longer than usual.”

In its March 31 Planting Intentions report, NASS reported Arkansas farmers were expecting to plant 580,000 acres of cotton this year.

“There’s some question whether we will reach that level,” Stiles said. “It sounds like we'll be closer to 500,000.”

Planting cotton has been slow this year. In the May 12 Crop Progress report, cotton was 36 percent planted.

“That’s close to the five-year average of 37 percent but behind last year’s 44 percent.

However, “the fields are wet and progress may be nil this week,” he said last Monday. “If the planters are parked all of this week, soybeans might start to look good? Beans made a nice run higher after today's USDA report.”

Despite the challenges, “Arkansas had a state record average yield in cotton and the highest state average yield in the U.S. — in spite of Francine and Helene,” Stiles said.

How’d they do it?

“We can attribute a lot to our producers. They did a phenomenal job of managing the crop and making the best of some bad situations — like two hurricanes in three weeks,” said Zachary Treadway, extension cotton and peanut agronomist for the Division of Agriculture.

“Cotton is resilient too. So even though we took those storms basically back-to-back, the crop was able to rebound,” Treadway said. “The weather last fall was warm and very kind post-hurricane, which helped us dry out from the rains and get through harvest in a timely manner.”

The stats:

  • Arkansas’ cotton acreage increased by 27 percent, or 140,000 acres, to 650,000 acres, which is the highest since 2011. As noted above, 640,000 acres were harvested.
  • Arkansas’ average yield in 2024 was a record 1,341 pounds — highest in the U.S.
  • Total production was 1.788 million bales. That was up 426,000 bales from 2023 and the highest since 2007.
  • Arkansas’ cotton production ranked third in the U.S. behind Texas and Georgia.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system. 

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.  

Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.

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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu

 

 

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