Costs and Returns of Using On-Board Module Building Harvesters with Skip-Row Cotton

The new on-board module building pickers from Case-IH and Deere completely change the machinery and labor requirements of harvesting cotton. These new machines eliminate the need for a boll buggy and a module builder, along with the attached tractors and drivers. Because the harvesters do not have to stop to unload into a boll buggy, field efficiency can be increased as well. The tradeoff is that the new harvesters are more expensive than than a traditional harvester. Economic analysis of the on-board module building pickers has been examined in several studies. These previous analyses have focused on cotton grown in traditional row arrangements. Skip-row cotton has not been analyzed with the on-board module building picker. Given the higher cost associated with the new pickers, skip-row cotton could help lower the machinery cost per acre of the on-board module building pickers and improve their comparative advantage. Additionally, with the current total costs of growing cotton already fairly expensive, any technologies that can lower costs will help profitability. On-board module pickers and skip-row planting both can help lower costs. This paper will examine the costs and returns of using on-board module building pickers to harvest skip-row cotton. These costs and returns will be compared to traditional row spacing using both traditional harvesters and the new harvesters. These costs and returns will also be compared to skip-row cotton harvested with a traditional harvester.