Table of Contents

 

Features

Agriculture: We Can Sustain It

Socializing Agriculture

Painter of Quiet Places

An Apple a Day

Sustaining the Four Sixes

Hitting Pay Dirt

 

The New Face of Agriculture

The Winds of Change

Avatars Animate Agriculture

Professors in Training

Going Green

Saving Lives One Plan at a Time

 

Protecting Our Food

Quality Cells, Consumer Buys

Tech's New Mate

Micro ZAP

Food Saftey in Mexico

 

Expanding Opportunities

No Bits About It

The Family Farm Fire Man

Around the World with CASNR

Live From Texas Tech

 

Looking Forward

Getting Schooled

A Cotton Senstaion

Living and Learning

More Than a Trophy

 

Online Exclusives

Alumni Lance Barnett: Unpeeled

Agricultural Education and CommunicationDepartment Shines in 2010

CSI: Classroom Soil Investigation

Facing Nature

GINuine

Healing Hooves

Parking and Partying in Style

Raider Red Meats

Standing TALL

Tech Takes Flight

West Texas Cotton Goes Global

 

 

 

 

West Texas Cotton Goes Global

By Katie Hancock

 

Every farmer has the goal to find the best market and price to sell their commodities. While technologies and methods have changed and developed over the years, the goal remains. In a farmer-owned cooperative like Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, marketers travel great lengths to develop markets for their members’ cotton.


With corporate headquarters located in Lubbock, PCCA sells cotton to more than 132 textile mills in 16 countries and internationally exports about 80 percent of cotton grown in West Texas. John Johnson, PCCA’s Director of Public Relations and Legislative Affairs, explains that the reason for such large cotton exports is due to the selection of a highly profitable market.


“We are forced to sell much of our members’ cotton internationally since the U.S. textile industry has contracted tremendously in the past 10 years,” Johnson said. “That way, we have a market for their cotton, and it helps get the best possible price.”


Johnson said PCCA sells cotton directly to textile mills around the world, as well as to U.S. cotton merchants. Domestic merchants also sell the cotton to international textile mills.


Along with selling cotton, PCCA also produces denim fabric and jeans in textile and apparel factories owned by PCCA, including the American Cotton Growers denim mill in Littlefield, Texas.


“Today, ACG has capacity to make 36 million linear yards of denim annually,” Johnson said, “which will make about 24 million pairs of jeans.”


In 2009, the cooperative founded Denimatrix to make jeans from the denim produced at the American Cotton Growers mill. This allowed PCCA to bring on new buyers worldwide. Denimatrix is located in Guatemala and manufactures high fashion jeans and denim products for men, women and children.


Denimatrix is one of the first factories of its kind, using a fully-integrated vertical supply chain that allows the factory to produce large quantities of jeans in a short amount of time. Denimatrix currently can produce 150,000 pairs of jeans each week. Jeans are sold to customers who include Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, Guess, Levi’s, Wrangler and Lee.


Through these developments, PCCA members like Timmy Hancock, have been able to sustain their farming operation.


“I’ve sold cotton through PCCA for many years,” Hancock said. “I know PCCA has strong relationships and sells cotton to high-demand markets, which means I’m getting the best price for my cotton.”


Johnson said it has taken time to develop these partnerships. PCCA’s sales staff frequently travels overseas to make personal sales calls and face-to-face meetings.


“This is still the kind of business where personal relationships and trust are developed over a period of time,” Johnson said.


As one of the largest cotton marketing organizations in the world, PCCA has progressed tremendously since 1953. The cooperative continues to develop new markets and clothe the world in West Texas cotton.