The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), in partnership with the National Cotton Council (NCC), is piloting a program for the 2024-2025 cotton crop that will allow bales to be shipped in four-bale groupings that use averaged quality data. This program will make the flow of cotton into the marketplace more efficient, a goal of both the cotton industry and USDA.

The Four-Bale Module Averaging pilot is an industry-backed effort to improve how cotton is packaged for trading by allowing modules, or groupings, of four bales or multiples of four bales to carry the same official USDA classing data for all eight quality factors.<_o3a_p>

The pilot is a response to the granular USDA classing information provided for each bale, which provides considerable market assurance but also would benefit from creating new efficiencies in storing and shipping cotton. AMS' Cotton and Tobacco Program performed several studies at NCC's request to determine how a multiple-bale module could benefit the cotton industry. AMS' studies of the 2021, 2022, and 2023 crop years showed that the tolerances for averaging color and leaf resulted in accurate grades for each bale and appropriately kicked out modules too different to be averaged.<_o3a_p>

The program is completely voluntary and can be tried on one or multiple modules at any time during the season. For more information, stakeholders can view a list of technical frequently asked questions or reach out to any one of the 10 regional cotton classing offices or to the Cotton Grading Division leadership of Robert Seals, Jr., Director, [email protected] or Byron Cole, Deputy Director, [email protected].<_o3a_p>

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender<_o3a_p>