Kansas cotton farmer Steve Keimeg is using two new John Deere CS690 stripper/balers to harvest his cotton this year and says a big advantage is that it requires only one operator. Everything else -- stripping, module building, wrapping and dropping at the end of the field -- are automated.

"The labor savings are a big deal," Keimeg said. "You just can't find help. With these machines, two operators can harvest a circle in a day."

Freisen said this year's Kansas cotton crop will rival last year's for yield. On Oct, 20, Keimeg said he was averaging between 1.5 and 2 bales per acre.