As Planting Gears Up, It’s Business as Usual (Sort of) for Cotton’s Supply Chain

Despite the changes and social distancing mandates surrounding the COVID-19 virus, farming’s status as an essential business has kept tractors and farm equipment rolling through the early stages of the 2020 planting season. Ask around and you’ll hear that it’s been business as usual…in a most unusual way.

“It’s part of a farmer’s normal social interaction to get together with their neighbors and other farmers over coffee or lunch,” said Dr. Calvin Trostle, Texas A&M AgriLife agronomist, in a recent Cotton Companion podcast interview. “But right now, we encourage folks to just keep their distance.

Advertisement

“Our more urban cousins may look at farmers and say, ‘You’re lucky…you’re on a farm and there’s natural isolation in what you do’,” he added. “And that does work to our advantage. But like in weed control, we always say ‘start clean.’ In terms of COVID-19, I guess the message would be ‘stay clean.’ We need healthy farmers in the U.S., and that extends to their employees as well. The more we can keep the agricultural economy rolling, it will help diminish some of the downturn in our overall economy.”

As cotton planting begins to ramp up throughout most of the Cotton Belt, farm retailers have adjusted to the social mandates while still providing service to their customers. A quick snapshot of several key retail groups shows how their service offerings have adjusted and evolved.

Southern States Cooperative, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, GreenPoint AG and Nutrien Ag Solutions all report putting preventative measures in place to protect customers and employees, including adopting social distancing recommendations, extra cleaning and sanitizing at their facilities, and limiting customer access. Nutrien and GreenPoint both offer digital options to link customers with their local branches for agronomic consultation, ordering crop inputs and scheduling pick-ups and/or deliveries.

Top Articles
Cotton Companion: Adjusting to New EPA Adjustments

“We’ve been getting ready to plant, and, so far, it’s pretty much been business as usual,” said central Georgia cotton grower Adam Horne. “The ag retailer we do business with – Agri-AFC in Vienna, GA – tells us that they had pretty much everything we need to get the crop planted already in the warehouse by the time the coronavirus really hit. He did, however, say that there could be some delays on products we might need later in the season.”

Keeping the supply chain open and operating efficiently remains the goal of the seed and chemical companies, even while making necessary business adjustments. In a recent statement, Bayer reported confidence in the company’s ability to deliver products to their customers in a timely manner – including certain products that have already seen higher demand. A large portion of the company’s Deltapine cotton seed is already in the hands of retailers and growers with no disruption in warehousing or logistics. Distribution timing is tracking on average with past years.

Americot reports no issues with getting seed supplies to the market. The company’s biggest adjustment has come in interfacing with retailers and growers while social distancing. All paperwork and signatures are being handled electronically, and sales reps are following up with email and phone calls to provide information and answer questions.

“Right now, we’re maintaining proper social distancing while still servicing our growers at the farm gate,” said Chiree Fields, Americot Chief Operations Officer. “That’s a tough adjustment for a seed sales force that’s used to personal contact. But we’re making it work.”

Trostle also pointed out adjustments that researchers are having to make for in-field work this year.

“In my particular case, I will need to scale back on some of the on-farm work that I anticipated for this summer,” he said. “I have two projects that I will have to prioritize, and I may have to set some others aside. There will be some cutback, but we’ll try to minimize any impact it may have on producers.”

1