Alabama Cotton Division is composed of cotton farmers from across the state involved in the production of the state’s largest row crop.

Cotton Production in Alabama

Cotton production in the state is deeply embedded in Alabama’s history. The boll weevil devastated the South’s cotton industry around 1910, but with the implementation of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, cotton made a big comeback in the state and once again is King of row crops in Alabama. The boll weevil was honored in 1919 when a monument was erected in downtown Enterprise, Alabama as a reminder that the tiny insect pest had forced farmers to diversify their operations.

Today’s cotton farmers rely on more than just the eradication program to produce a good crop. Using the latest farming techniques and biotechnology, yields have improved dramatically in the last century.

Alabama farmers planted nearly 540,000 acres of cotton in 2019. Farmers harvested 532,000 acres with estimated yields of 928 pounds per acre for a total of about 1,028,000 bales in 2019. Cotton is grown in 59 of Alabama’s 67 counties. For more details about cotton statistics in Alabama, visit the Alabama Agricultural Statistics Service.

Top cotton-producing counties in Alabama include Limestone, Madison, Lawrence, Monroe, Colbert, Escambia, Lauderdale, Cherokee, Baldwin and Geneva, while the state ranks ninth in the nation in production.

Carla Hornady
Cotton Division Director
(334) 613-4216