USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has released its 2020 Cotton Varieties Planted report. And to no one’s surprise, the Deltapine brand of upland cottonseed was again the most popular brand planted in the U.S. this year.

The Americot/NexGen brands were the second most popular varieties planted, followed by PhytoGen, BASF Stoneville, BASF FiberMax, Dyna-Gro and CROPLAN (now Armor).

For the fourth consecutive year, Deltapine’s DP 1646 B2XF was the top upland variety planted in the U.S., accounting for 21.4% of total upland cotton acres. Americot’s NG 5711 B3XF ranked second with 6.6% of acres, followed by PHY 400 W3FE from PhytoGen with 5.1% of overall acres.

According to the report released on October 5, Deltapine brand upland varieties accounted for 36.9% of the U.S. upland acreage in 2020. Regionally, Deltapine varieties were planted on 49.6% of acres in the Southeast (AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, VA), 65.4% of Mid-South acres (AR, LA, MS, MO, TN), 25.3% of cotton acres in the Southwest (TX, OK, KS), and 31.8% of Western acres (AZ, CA, NM).

In addition to DP 1646 B2XF, Deltapine varieties DP 1845 B3XF, DP 1820 B3XF, DP 1840 B3XF, DP 1948 B3XF, DP 1549 B3XF, DP 1725 B2XF and DP 1518 B2XF all ranked in the top 20 varieties planted.

Americot/NexGen claimed 28.1% of the 2020 acreage, including 32.7% of Southeast acres, 13.7% in the Mid-South, and 25.3% of Southwest acres, and 21% of Western acres. In addition to NG 5711 B3XF, other top 20 varieties for the year included NG 4936 B3XF, NG 4545 B2XF, NG 3406 B2XF, NG 3930 B3XF and NG 3500 XF.

PhytoGen brand varieties accounted for 19.5% of U.S. upland cotton acres. The varieties were planted on 9.7% of Southeast acres, 11.9% of Mid-South acres, 24.8% of Southwest acres, and 17% of Western acres. In addition to PHY 400 W3FE, other top 20 varieties were PHY 350 W3FE, PHY 480 W3FE and PHY 444 WRF.

BASF Stoneville brand varieties accounted for 5.6% of total U.S. upland acres, including 6.2% of Southeast acres, 3.9% in the Mid-South, 5.6% in the Southwest and 11.8% in the West. Top 20 varieties included  ST 5600B2XF and ST 5707B2XF.

BASF FiberMax brand varieties accounted for 4.9% of the U.S. upland acreage. The FiberMax varieties were most popular in the Southwest (7.9% of acres) and the West (10.3% of acres).

Dyna-Gro varieties accounted for about 3.5% of the upland acres, taking about 1% of Southeast acres, 2.5% in the Mid-South, 4.6% in the Southwest and 5.3% in the West.

CROPLAN/Armor varieties captured 1.3% of Cotton Belt acres – nearly 1% of Southeast acres, 2.2% in the Mid-South and 1.2% in the Southwest.

Of the 20 most popular upland varieties in the report, Deltapine claimed eight spots, followed by Americot/NexGen with six spots, PhytoGen with four and BASF Stoneville with two.

PhytoGen varieties remained the most popular choice for Pima cotton growers in 2020, with PHY 881 RF and PHY 841 R accounting for 87% of all Pima acreage.

Estimates of the percentage of the cotton varieties planted in 2020 were based on informal surveys made by USDA’s Cotton and Tobacco Classing Offices with ginners, seed dealers, Extension agents and other industry sources.

USDA has reported that the 2020 edition of the Cotton Varieties Planted report will be its last. The report is being discontinued in 2021.