Bayer CropScience inducts 183 new members into FiberMax One-Ton Club

Bayer CropScience announced today that it has honored 183 growers, who produced one-ton yields of cotton using the company’s FiberMax seed last year.

The growers were recognized at the company’s April 9 banquet in Lubbock, Texas, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the FiberMax One-Ton Club. Over the past decade, 806 Southwest farmers have earned membership for producing 2,000 pounds or more of lint cotton per acre, on at least 20 acres, using FiberMax. They used 37 different varieties of the product.

FiberMax has transformed the cotton market in West Texas, which was plagued by low yields and poor quality prior to Bayer’s 1998 introduction of the product. The area now produces some of the largest quantities of high-quality cotton anywhere in the U.S.

Head of Seeds North America for Bayer Crop Science, Lee Rivenbark, remembers when West Texas began achieving higher yields.

“By elevating the use of water management, equipment and technology, these innovative growers showed they could successfully manage for high yields and high quality with FiberMax cotton,” Rivenbark said. “We began to hear stories about 2,000-pound cotton yields, and we needed to come up with a way to recognize producers who grew four-bale cotton. Then a grower told us, ‘It’s not just four-bale cotton. It’s a ton of cotton.’”