Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tools to Provide Producers Economic Information Related to Production and Price Risk in Cotton Variety Selection

Dr. Dan D. Fromme1, Mr. Luis A. Ribera2, Mr. Jeffery R. Stapper1, and Mr. Lawrence L. Falconer1. (1) Texas Cooperative Extension, 348 Heep Center, 2474 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2474, (2) TAES, box 45019, Lubbock, TX 79407

Production and price risk are very important issues to take into consideration in cotton production. Selection of varieties that can perform well over conditions that exist in a particular environment can help manage not only production risk, but price risk that can arise due to changes in cotton quality. Texas Cooperative Extension conducts yearly cotton variety trials on a county level in major production areas to monitor the characteristics of cultivars submitted by seed companies and university based plant breeders. These trials provide producers with useful information on the performance of different cultivars related to yield, turn out, quality, etc. However, the increasing numbers of varieties being released and shortened life-span of releases has caused producers to request development of tools that may be used to help focus their attention on varieties that exhibit consistently good yield and quality performance in trials over several years. The rapid rate of variety turnover makes the calculation of stability parameter estimates (Eberhart and Russell) for varieties from these trial data problematic.