8,226 research outputs found
James Cotton
No full textChicago Blues Festival; James Cotton (standing) and Willie Dixonhttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/bluesphoto_one/1123/thumbnail.jp
Cotton-textile-apparel sectors of India:
No full text"Cotton, textiles, and apparel are critical agricultural and industrial sectors in India. This study provides descriptions of these sectors and examines the key developments emerging domestically and internationally that affect the challenges and opportunities the sectors face. More than four million farm households produce cotton in India, and about one-quarter of output is produced by marginal and small farms. Although production has expanded—most recently with the introduction of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton—domestic prices dropped sharply in the late 1990s, in parallel to world cotton prices. Using partial equilibrium simulations, we estimate that a price movement of the magnitude that occurred has a significant effect on levels of poverty among cotton-producing households. The fiber-to-fabric production chain, from cotton processing through apparel, employs more than 12 million workers in India and provides 16 percent of export earnings. Except for the spinning industry, these sectors are dominated by small, fragmented, and nonintegrated units, which adversely affect their competitiveness. Recent policy reforms have induced some technological improvements. In terms of future prospects for the Indian processing, textile, and apparel industries, our analysis emphasizes three dimensions of reform—the need for further investments in human resource development to improve industry productivity and reduce poverty among workers in these sectors, the emergence of modern domestic retail marketing chains, and the potentially vibrant prospects for the industry that arise from a growing domestic fabric demand and new opportunities in world markets if appropriate policies and investments are undertaken." from authors' abstractCotton, textiles, Apparel, Rural poverty, subsidies, Industry policy, World markets,
The use of New York cotton futures contracts to hedge cotton price risk in developing countries
No full textCotton exports account for a significant share of commodity exports for some developing countries, especially in West Africa and Central Asia. In these countries, dependency on cotton for export revenues has increased in the past 20 years. These countries therefore have a high exposure to cotton price volatility. Cotton-producing developing countries and economies in transition make little use of hedging mechanisms to reduce risk from the volatility of cotton export revenues. Countries in Francophone West Africa use forward sales to hedge but only for a small share of the crop. These countries could use cotton futures and options contracts to hedge against short- to medium-term price volatility, making cotton export revenues more predictable. Cotton futures and options contracts could also make cotton-related commercial transactions more flexible. (Futures could be sold when there are no buyers in the physical market, for example.) In West Africa, futures and options could complement the existing system of forward sales. The authors examine the feasibility of using New York cotton futures and options contracts as hedging instruments. They base their analysis on a portfolio selection problem in which the hedger selects the optimal proportions of unhedged and hedged output to minimize risk. The results suggest that despite the existence of relatively high basis risk (that is, a relatively low correlation between spot and future prices), hedging reduces cotton price volatility by 30 to 70 percent. Moreover, for all varieties of cotton examined, the hedge ratio (the percentage of exports hedged) was below one. Using a hedge ratio of one (naive hedge), at times, increases rather than decreases risk. The results also show that hedging, while reducing risk, also reduces expected returns. Attitudes toward risk that is, the degree of risk aversion - determine how much of this risk-return tradeoff is acceptable. For a risk-averse agent, the main benefit of hedging lies in risk reduction rather than in the potential for increased returns.Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Financial Intermediation,Insurance Law
Valuing Transgenic Cotton Technologies Using a Risk/Return Framework
No full textStochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) is used to rank transgenic cotton technology groups and place an upper and lower bound on their value. Yield and production data from replicated plot experiments are used to build cumulative distribution functions of returns for nontransgenic, Roundup Ready, Bollgard, and stacked gene cotton cultivars. Analysis of Arkansas data indicated that the stacked gene and Roundup Ready technologies would be preferred by a large number of risk neutral and risk averse producers as long as the costs of the technology and seed are below the lower bounds calculated in this manuscript.cotton, financial risk, market value, SERF, transgenic, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q16,
Bt Cotton and farmer suicides in India: Reviewing the evidence
No full text"Suicides in general, including farmers' suicides, are a sad and complex phenomenon. Hence, their underlying causes need to be addressed within an equally complex societal framework. Here, we provide a specific case study on the potential link between technological choices and farmer suicides in India. Although officially recognized for having increased production and farmers' income, Bt cotton, genetically-modified, insect-resistant cotton, remains highly controversial in India. Among other allegations, it is accused of being the main reason for a resurgence of farmer suicides in India. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of evidence on Bt cotton and farmer suicides, taking into account information from published official and unofficial reports, peer-reviewed journal articles, published studies, media news clips, magazine articles, and radio broadcasts from India, Asia, and international sources from 2002 to 2007. The review is used to evaluate a set of hypotheses on whether or not there has been a resurgence of farmer suicides, and the potential relationship suicide may have with the use of Bt cotton. We first show that there is no evidence in available data of a “resurgence” of farmer suicides in India in the last five years. Second, we find that Bt cotton technology has been very effective overall in India. However, the context in which Bt cotton was introduced has generated disappointing results in some particular districts and seasons. Third, our analysis clearly shows that Bt cotton is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the occurrence of farmer suicides. In contrast, many other factors have likely played a prominent role. Nevertheless, in specific regions and years, where Bt cotton may have indirectly contributed to farmer indebtedness, leading to suicides, its failure was mainly the result of the context or environment in which it was planted. We close the paper by proposing a conceptual framework for empirical applications linking the different agricultural and institutional factors that could have contributed to farmer suicides in recent years in certain districts of Central and Southern India." from authors' abstractCotton, Genetically modified crops, farmer suicides,
Risk management prospects for Egyptian cotton
No full textThe authors examine risk management options for Egyptian cottons, the export prices for which are volatile. They use regression analysis to establish whether Egyptian cotton's prices can be effectively hedged by using existing futures contracts on the New York Cotton Exchange. They find no relationship between the movements in prices of Egyptian long and extra-long cottons and prices for the base quality of U.S. medium staple cotton traded on the New York futures market. (Probably because Egyptian cotton prices are government-determined, U.S. medium staple cotton prices are influenced by price support policies unrelated to the longer staple markets, and the fiber of the cottons analyzed have different physical characteristics.) So, the New York cotton futures market's No. 2 contract is not an appropriate mechanism for hedging the price risk facing Egyptian cotton under present procedures for determining prices - and probably not under market-determined prices. If the cotton market in Egypt is liberalized, cotton prices there may correlate more with prices elsewhere - especially for the longer staple cottons. The authors extend their regression analysis to the prices of other medium staple cottons - Australian, Central Asian, Mexican, Pakistani, and Turkish - to determine how they behave relative to U.S. medium staple cotton prices. None of these prices had short-term movements closely related to U.S. cotton prices, indicating mainly the influence of domestic policies on the U.S. market. Again, the New York futures No. 2 contract does not provide a satisfactory hedge for these cottons. The cotton futures contract recently introduced in New York (world cotton contract) - based on the Cotlook A Index - may prove useful for hedging the price risk for some cottons (especially Australian, Central Asian, and Pakistani) but apparently not Egyptian cotton. The authors recommend (together with privatizing the industry) establishing a domestic spot market to give transparency to the price-forming process. When the spot market is functioning well, establishing a foward market could provide a hedging instrument for Egyptian cotton.Markets and Market Access,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Access to Markets
Letter from Alma Rachel Cotton to her uncle James Cotton, Tasmania 1877
No full textLetter from Alma Rachel Cotton, daughter of Francis and Helen (McLeod) Cotton, 'Belmont' to her uncle James Cotton, Tasmania 1877 thanking him for a desk and talking about herself and Ethel taking dinner to Arthur and Ernest who are clearing the gorse.
DX19/22
Letter, James Cotten, in Natchez, Mississippi to Rev. James Smylie in Elysian Fields, Amite County, Mississippi, June 20, 1823
No full textThis handwritten letter, written in script and dated June 20, 1823, to Rev. James Smylie in Elysian Fields, Amite County, Mississippi, from James Cotten, in Natchez, Mississippi, discusses the cotton crop, his brother\u27s recent trip to New York by ship, and other general gossip.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/mss-herring-collection/1042/thumbnail.jp
The Diffusion of Bt Cotton and the Economic Impact on Producers
No full textThe objective is to present the economic impact of producers adopting Bt cotton and the rapid diffusion on the main producing countries: USA, China and India. The existing literature about this type of transgenic crop has been revised and the results of different research are presented. Bt cotton varieties have been quickly adopted by the countries in this study. Data show that this technology helps reduce production losses and significantly decrease the use of pesticides, thus saving their cost and the associated labour cost. But the total cost reduction is weak due to the high prices of the seeds incorporating this technology.Innovation diffusion, Bt cotton, Crop Production/Industries,
Understanding the Interaction Between Cotton Ginning and Rural Economics in the Mid-South Under A Changing Cotton Environment
No full textThis study estimates economic impact of ginning on Mid-South states applying input-output analysis to gin cost data. Results indicated that cotton ginning activity in the Mid-South generated over 438 million in total effects with a multiplier of 2.39.cotton, cotton ginning, economic impact, multiplier, Mid-South, input-output, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, R15,
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