The first bale of cotton for the 2018 U.S. cotton crop has been picked and delivered in South Texas.
According to the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen, TX, this year’s first certified bale was delivered to the Willacy Co-op in Sebastian, TX, by Wesley Vanderpool at 3:30 pm on June 13.
The seed cotton – grown from FiberMax FM 2007GLT – weighed in at 2,040 pounds and was grown and picked in Hidalgo County just west of La Joya. Vanderpool received a $3,000 reward from the Harlingen Cotton Committee for delivering the bale.
When ginned, the bale will be delivered to the Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce to be auctioned at the town’s annual First Bale Auction and Scholarship Fundraiser in September. The Harlingen Cotton Committee has verified that the nation’s first bale of cotton has come from the Rio Grande Valley for the past 65 years.