United States | News & Politics

cotton picking is already mechanized

U.S. cotton is mechanically harvested using specialized equipment. Seed cotton—fluffy white fiber that includes seeds—is harvested from the field and pressed into round bales or large modules for transport to a gin. During the ginning process, cotton fibers are separated from the seeds, cleaned of foreign material, and pressed into bales of lint. In the United States, a small sample of cotton lint is collected and sent to a USDA classing office where it is graded, thereby providing the quality characteristics on which the cotton is marketed. After ginning, the cotton bales are ready for shipment—usually to a storage warehouse where bales are consolidated before being sent to a mill for further processing into textile and apparel products.

The use of mechanical harvesting rose significantly during the 1950's, involving nearly half of the U.S. crop by 1960. Virtually all of the U.S. crop was mechanically harvested by 1970. Mechanization of other field operations progressed rapidly in response to increased labor costs, labor shortages, and the need to perform more timely operations on larger acreages. Chemical weed control, which became common in the 1950's, has largely replaced hand hoeing, reducing labor requirements for this operation.

https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/79922/AER-739.pdf