 Like sweet tea and pecan pie, cotton is iconically southern, and who doesn't enjoy a drive through rural Alabama when it's in full bloom? But did you know that cotton, with decades of research behind it, has grown into a $2 billion industry here in our state? And who's behind that research? Join us as we discover Alabama Extension. It's ginning season at Milstead Farm Group in Shorter. The gin here is processing some of Alabama's 710,000 bales from the 2023 season, good for fifth in U.S. production. What helps the industry boom here? Many farmers say it's the advice and expertise of specialists with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. The Extension has been doing this for a long, long time. Steve Brown of Auburn University has studied cotton for 47 years, fine-tuning management practices through research for better production and profitability. During the season, there's so many different decisions that a farmer makes day by day, whether it's pest management, whether it's fertility, whether it's irrigation, we're there to advise and provide research-based information to help him make the most of each and every input to make the most cotton possible. This field we're standing in is one that our family has worked since the 1860s, and I'm proud to continue that legacy today. Kind of knew the basics of what to do, but the timing of it is where farming is really critical. And so having all that extension able to come in and help me with that allowed me to kind of fine-tune my management of my farm. Dixon's partnership with Extension specialist Scott Graham has proven beneficial for both farmer and researcher. Working with Garrett has been great. He's been so willing to help us put out on-farm research plots so we can not only demonstrate but also validate the small plot research that we do to show, hey, on the big scale these principles and ideas that we're researching will help your operation. Visit aces.edu to learn more about partnering with Alabama Extension.