Cotton planting is underway across the country, and alongside the tried-and-true are a selection of test varieties with new and exciting traits that Deltapine test growers from coast to coast will be evaluating for the class of 2026. Deltapine Product Manager Eric Best says the New Product Evaluation program is pretty special.
“I think this is year 18 for the program. And when you think about, you know, 100 and what, 10 years of Deltapine cotton breeding, delivering genetics and traits, it’s a pretty high bar. And some of the products that Deltapine has in the marketplace today, out of the last couple of classes, they’ve really set the bar pretty high on performance and quality.”
The NPE program provides valid data back to the developers.
“You know, if they choose to put more PGR on one versus another, or they tend to put them on different acres than another, they can manage that’s a big enough block. They can manage them separately. They can also harvest and gin them separately. So we get, you know, real world data on yield and quality and turnout and stuff like that back as well. So, you know, it’s tough to devote that many acres, but through the dedication and their cooperation, it seems to happen a lot of times. Most of these guys, you know, they say four. Well, I was really hoping I’d have five or six to look at. So they’re very progressive growers and very anxious to be on the cutting edge of some of these new varieties and trying them out.”
Best says there’s a wide range of maturities in this test class.
“Irregardless the region, some guys like early, early, mid. Some like fulls. Some like native traits for nematodes, root knot, or reniform. Some folks like native traits for Bacterial Blight resistance, and there’s a very good compliment of those in this class of ‘26 and you know, but ultimately, we couldn’t do it if we didn’t have such outstanding cotton producers in the NPE program helping us out.”
He praises those growers and the hard work they put in to evaluate these new varieties each year.
“Through the program and their help, I think it ultimately it improves the way these varieties are commercialized and with margins where they are these days in the cotton industry. It really improves the likelihood for these producers that they have a higher probability of profitability on year one. You know, you can’t afford many hiccups anymore, so with them helping us test it in the elite products and the elite germplasm and the elite traits fit for some of these markets, and their help, you know, we’re poised for some more success with the class of ‘26.”