IVOR—In the nation’s northernmost cotton-producing state, the Virginia-grown crop is known for its quality, coveted by mills and manufacturers internationally. While cotton thrives in the soils of the lower Tidewater, its growers are credited with maintaining top quality through meticulous techniques.

Of Virginia’s 80,000 cotton acres harvested in 2023, 34,200 acres were grown in Southampton County, with the rest in Isle of Wight and Sussex counties and in Suffolk. The state’s cotton harvest is expected to increase to 90,000 acres this year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“Virginia cotton is a leader in maximum quality and poundage,” said Wilmer Stoneman, vice president of agriculture, development and innovation for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and principal officer of the Virginia Cotton Growers Association. “Those counties are prime growing locations, but the quality is more attributable to the producers and their ability to raise it well.”

First-generation farmer Gary Cross, who represents the region’s farmers on the VFBF state board of directors, rotationally grows 600 acres of cotton on his Southampton County farm, along with corn, peanuts and soybeans. Cross and son Lane ran the cotton picker through fields during November’s harvest season, compacting the lint into bright white 8-ton modules.

Cross pulled a lock of cotton from its scratchy boll and coaxed out a seed.

“That seed will go to cow feed; dairies love it,” he said. “And it will be crushed for oil. Any bag of potato chips you buy, look at the ingredients and you’ll see cottonseed oil. We’re paid on the lint and get credit for the seed, which helps pay the ginning cost.”

The modules are collected for ginning cotton, the process of separating cotton fibers from their seeds using a cotton gin. The ginned cotton is stored as the seller waits for the best price. Then that cotton is sold and milled into thread for garments.

As a cash crop, cotton prices waver rapidly based on competition and consumer spending.

“A significant amount is exported, converted into garments and sent back to the U.S.,” Stoneman explained.

Cotton is a traceable product. The mill tracks every spool of thread, the bale it came from, its module and the grower, Cross added.

“The cotton can be traced right on down to Fruit of the Loom, who can say, ‘That thread came from Gary Cross’ farm in Southampton County!’” he said. “East Coast cotton is some of the highest quality in the U.S. The buyers search for it.”

Under strict grading standards, growers are paid based on fiber characteristics, including strand length, uniformity, strength and color.

“Virginia cotton producers have a lot to be proud of,” Stoneman concluded. “They raise quality cotton, and lots of it per acre!”

Media: Contact Stoneman at 804-290-1024 or Cross at 757-630-8370.