# ‘American Elite Upland’ Announces Its Arrival Author: Beck Barnes Published: 2026-10-01 Canonical URL: https://www.cottongrower.com/fiber-quality/american-elite-upland-announces-its-arrival/ --- As producers on the Southern High Plains of Texas began to experiment with a new type of Upland cotton in recent years, they encountered several major challenges. The unique new cotton displayed fiber characteristics more akin to Extra Long Staple (ELS) varieties, although its lineage and other characteristics were distinctly Upland. As such, producers had to consider questions such as how to gin the new cotton lint — via saw ginning or roller ginning. How should we harvest it, they wondered, with a stripper harvester or a spindle picker? Maybe the most pressing question they encountered: What should they even call it? The new type of cotton they were growing, after all, wasn’t really ELS, and it wasn’t quite a standard Upland either. “I kept asking (Chad Brewer, National Cotton Council vice president of technical services) to give me a term that the industry could use because it was getting a little confusing out there,” says Ken Legé, Extension cotton specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife. “The term was needed to differentiate it from ELS. So, the industry settled on American Elite Upland.” This season, Legé has studied American Elite Upland varieties through his Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation (RACE) trials, examining varieties submitted by four different seed brands: BASF’s Stoneville, Bayer’s Deltapine,Corteva/Vylor’s PhytoGen and Americot’s NexGen. He’s also testing some varieties made publicly available from Texas A&M breeding programs. **DynaGro Moves Forward with Llano Series** As early trailblazers in this arena, Nutrien plant breeders are already at work expanding the DynaGro portfolio into the American Elite Upland market. Ty Fowler, Cotton Product Manager for Nutrien, says the company’s new DynaGro brand American Elite Upland line of varieties will be referred to as the Llano Series. DynaGro’s P224 B3XF has found early popularity among American Elite Upland producers on the Southern High Plains. As the new market category’s first “bell cow”, its fiber characteristics are being held up to standardize the qualifying metrics for other potential American Elite Upland varieties. Nutrien representatives say Llano varieties must have 1.36 inches in length or longer. There are 32 total lines being examined, with 26 originating from the brand’s Texas breeding program, and the remaining six selected for “Eastern-focused testing.” Fowler says P224 B3XF is best suited for the Southern High Plains, but researchers with DynaGro are testing other potential American Elite Upland varieties at plots around the Cotton Belt, at towns including: Levelland, TX; Winterville, MS; Chula, GA; and Statesboro, GA. Fowler says Nutrien’s goal with the Llano varieties is to identify higher-yielding lines and to look for greater geographical fit, while maintaining length and uniformity standards. “We recognize this as something with industry-wide potential,” Fowler says. “We’re just now cracking the lid of possibilities. We need all the input we can get and are looking to work with everybody we can to make sure we’re doing this the right way and protecting it at this stage to elevate American cotton production.” To that end, Cotton Incorporated is sponsoring Extension cotton specialists around the Cotton Belt in trials to look at production potential as well as best practices for harvesting and ginning the new American Elite Upland varieties. Nutrien has set its sights on introducing commercial American Elite Upland varieties under DynaGro’s Llano Series banner in time for the 2028 production season. **Something Different** Legé and Brewer say they have taken great care to attempt to carve out a market for the new category of cotton that does not impede existing ELS or standard Upland market demand. “We asked the question, ‘I wonder if we can develop this, for lack of a better term, intermediate quality market,’” says Legé. “It’s not quite as high quality as ELS, but certainly significantly better than the traditional Upland market. And can we distinguish that with our mill customers, and will they pay a premium for that Elite Upland cotton?” Early returns, according to growers on the Southern High Plains, suggest that mills are indeed interested in the new American Elite Upland fiber offerings. Some High Plains producers of the new American Elite Upland varieties reported fetching almost .30-cents higher per pound, in some instances, than standard Upland fiber commanded in 2025. Legé says the interest in this new idea arose in West Texas because of the agronomic circumstances many of the producers in the region have faced — particularly as they pertain to water availability. “It’s all about economics,” Legé says. “Here on the High Plains and the Rolling Plains, we are continually running out of water. The Ogallala Aquifer continues to decline. Growers are already concentrating water on fewer acres. With a set of wells here on the High Plains, if you used to water four circles, maybe today you’re only watering one or two circles. “Concentrating that water on the fewer acres allows them to make high enough yields to where their economic return looks better,” Legé says. “My view is, if you’re going to concentrate water for higher yields, why not then put something out there that is going to potentially increase revenue. So, if you are able to grow ELS cotton, consider that. Because with the same inputs, you’ve increased output. Or if you are not in an area that current ELS varieties will fit, this American Elite Upland is a great pilot program for you to try, since we have varieties within that segment that are well suited for our region.” Legé notes that you may need access to spindle-picking and roller ginning in order to maximize premiums for the fiber. These are the exact variables that Legé and other Extension researchers are testing in the field this season. **Separating ELS from AEU** Legé is quick to point out that there is a clear difference between ELS and American Elite Upland cotton. “It’s much more than just semantics,” he says. A new federal registration definition further differentiated ELS into its own category earlier this year. ELS and Upland are certified as separate farm commodities through the Farm Service Agency. There are only two choices to certify cotton in the United States — ELS or Upland. “If you have ELS cotton, that means it’s 100% Pima,” Legé says. “Then the new definition goes further and identifies the first-generation F1 hybrids — any cross of those F1-generated hybrids between Prima and Upland, that also meets the definition of ELS cotton. “Anything that may have Pima in its background but is not an F1 hybrid, from an interspecific cross, does not qualify as Extra Long Staple. So, everything else has to be certified as Upland cotton.” Legé notes that another key requisite for ELS cotton is that it must be ginned in a roller gin. While it does not necessarily have to be spindle-picked, ginning via a roller gin is a requirement for the designation.