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Cotton Farmers Weave Success
Many cotton growers’ balance sheets are “bleeding red” these days, as production costs exceed crop revenue. In the southern U.S., creative cotton growers have found a solution to the cotton cost/price squeeze: further processing cotton into products sold wholesale and directly to consumers. But value-added growers will
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Cotton Farmers Weave Success
Many cotton growers’ balance sheets are “bleeding red” these days, as production costs exceed crop revenue. In the southern U.S., creative cotton growers have found a solution to the cotton cost/price squeeze: further processing cotton into products sold wholesale and directly to consumers. But value-added growers will be the first to admit it’s a long road, scattered with obstacles and headaches.
Mark Yeager, a north Alabama cotton grower, first considered further processing when he posted a photo of a cotton bale on Instagram more than 10 years ago. His sister remarked that she’d like some bed sheets made from that cotton. That remark sparked a business idea that’s now thriving. In 2024, Yeager’s Red Land Cotton business processed 350,000 yards of cotton fabric into heirloom cotton bed sheets and many other cotton products.
For Yeager, a strategic milestone in the company’s growth was his 2016 decision to invite his daughter, Anna, to join the company. After college, Anna began her career as an advertising and graphic artist in New York City. Today, with Anna as a partner, the company’s growing line of bed linen products is artfully showcased on its website.
Gary Oldham of Samnorwood, Texas, first considered further processing his own cotton in 1994 after learning that an Olympic team was seeking a supplier of organic cotton T-shirts. His family’s Texas Panhandle land had produced cotton for more than 100 years, and the farm had been certified organic since 1992. Oldham wasn’t prepared to take on the Olympic assignment in 1994, but the idea of producing organic cotton T-shirts had taken root. He began researching how to make his “We Grow T-shirts” vision a reality.
Today, SOS from Texas produces more than 2,000 T-shirts per acre of its cotton-growing land. The company’s product line also includes cotton socks, baby clothing and tote bags. Its products are available on its website and through wholesale channels. The majority of its T-shirts are sold plain, but the company also offers several dozen printed designs featuring artwork and catchy slogans.
Despite Yeager’s and Oldham’s value-added successes, both men doubt that the wide-scale manufacturing of cotton clothing and bedding will ever return to the South at the levels of a century ago. But they’re both grateful to be able to provide jobs and strengthen their local communities’ economies.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Yeager, Red Land Cotton, 1000 County Road 213, Moulton, Ala. 35650 (ph 205-564-9332; www.redlandcotton.com) or Gary Oldham, SOS From Texas, 15781 FM 1036, Samnorwood, Texas 79077 (ph 806-256-2033; go@sosfromtexas.com; https://sosfromtexas.com).
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