Who, What and Where: Cotton Production in the United States, 1997 - 2012

The "who, what, and where" of cotton production in the United States has changed since 1997. Using Census of Agriculture data from 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012, three general questions will be considered: 1) Who are cotton producers; 2) What types of operations are producing cotton; and 3) Where are cotton operations located? More specifically, the number of farms classified as cotton farms declined, but how was that change distributed across the Cotton Belt? How have principal operator characteristics changed during this time period? In order to make informed research and policy decisions, it is important to understand how cotton production has changed across the Cotton Belt since 1997.