Cotton Incorporated recently went live with an information-rich Web site on cotton harvest systems. The site has information on spindle-type harvesting systems, including the new on-board module building cotton pickers, as well as information on stripper harvesting and seed cotton handling/storage.

The site provides information such as:

• How to efficiently maintain and operate your harvesting system,

• How to maximize the harvester’s capacity and productivity. It also offers information on pre-season and in-season procedures for each system.

• Safety information and lint quality best practices.

Cotton Incorporated director of agricultural research, Ed Barnes, took the lead in creation of this resource. “This site captures about five years of cotton harvest systems research,” Barnes said. “We started by looking at the new on-board module builders and then realized we also needed to refine our knowledge base of all our harvest system information.”

Researchers and Extension specialists from Texas A&M, Mississippi State, the University of Arkansas and USDA all played an integral role in gathering data for the site.

An economic decision aid to compare the costs of different cotton harvesting systems and help determine which system will work best for specific cotton farming operations will be added to the site by Jan., 2011.

All of this information can be found on Cotton Incorporated’s Web site http://www.cottoninc.com/cotton-harvest-systems.