The Deltapine brand of upland cottonseed was the most popular planted in the United States for the 2011-2012 season, according to the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service’s Cotton and Tobacco Programs. The Bayer CropScience FiberMax brand was the second most popular followed by PhytoGen, Americot, Bayer CropScience’s Stoneville brand, Dyna-Gro and All-Tex.

Transgenic varieties – genetically engineered varieties resistant to worms, herbicides, or both – accounted for about 98.2 percent of the upland cotton planted in the United States in 2011. Use of transgenic varieties in 2011 varied from a high of 100 percent in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee and Virginia to a low of 92 percent in California. Other states planted from 97-99 percent transgenic.

Deltapine brand varieties were the most popular planted in 2011, accounting for 30.6 percent of U.S. acreage. This brand accounted for 50.6 percent of the acreage planted in the Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia). It accounted for about 39 percent in the Mid-South (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee), 19.2 percent in the Southwest (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas), and 36.9 percent in the West (Arizona, California, and New Mexico). Deltapine’s most popular varieties were DP 0912 B2RF, DP 1044 B2RF, DP 1050 B2RF, and DP 1048 B2RF, accounting respectively for 7.0, 5.5, 3.9, and 3.2 percent of U.S. upland cotton acreage.

Bayer CropScience FiberMax brand varieties were the second most popular planted in 2011, accounting for 26.9 percent of U.S. acreage. These varieties accounted for 7.9 percent of the acreage planted in the Southeast, 2.5 percent in the Mid-South, 44.2 percent in the Southwest, and 14.6 percent in the West. The most popular Bayer CropScience FiberMax varieties were FM 1740 B2F, FM 9170 B2F, FM 9063 B2F, and FM 9160 B2F, accounting respectively for about 7.2, 6.0, 2.7, and 2.4 percent of U.S. acreage planted to upland cotton.

Dow AgroScience’s PhytoGen brand varieties were the third most popular planted in 2011, accounting for 16.7 percent of U.S. acreage. They accounted for 33 percent of the acreage planted in the Southeast, 24.3 percent of the acreage in the Mid-South, 6 percent in the Southwest and 37.4 percent in the West. The most popular PhytoGen brand varieties were PHY 375 WRF, PHY 367 WRF, and PHY 565 WRF, accounting respectively for 10.7, 2.2 and 2.1 percent of U.S. acreage planted to upland cotton.

Americot brand varieties were the fourth most popular planted in 2011. These varieties accounted for about 11 percent of the acreage planted. They accounted for 1.2 percent of the acreage planted in the Southeast, 0.4 percent of the acreage in the Mid-South, and 19.5 percent in the Southwest. The most popular Americot varieties were NG 4012 B2RF, NG 3348 B2RF, and NG 4111 RF accounting respectively for 3.0, 1.8, and 1.7 percent of U.S. acreage planted to upland cotton.

Bayer CropScience Stoneville brand varieties were the fifth most popular brand and accounted for about 9.9 percent of U.S. acreage planted in 2011. Dyna-Gro varieties were the sixth most popular and accounted for about 2.3 percent of 2011 cotton acreage.

PhytoGen was the most popular brand of American Pima varieties planted in 2011. PhytoGen variety PHY 805 RF accounted for 60.4 percent of U.S. Pima acreage and was the most popular variety planted in California (78.9 percent of California Pima acreage). PhytoGen’s PHY 800 was the second most planted American Pima variety and accounted for 10.1 percent of the U.S. crop. Deltapine’s DP 340 was the next most popular variety and accounted for 9.6 percent of U.S. Pima acreage.

Bayer CropScience FM 958 and ADF 2485 were the predominate varieties planted by organic cotton producers.

Estimates of the percentage of the various varieties of cotton planted in the United States for 2011 were based on informal surveys made by the Cotton Program Classing offices. Those surveyed included ginners, seed dealers, Extension agents, and other knowledgeable sources.