For as long as he can remember, Josh Ogle has been growing cotton on the family farm, D&J River Farm, in Lincoln County near Flintville, Tennessee.
“It’s been a part of my life,” he said. “I grew up on a farm where my dad and two of his brothers farmed cotton, and I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a cotton farmer when I got older.”
Cotton is the No. 3 agricultural product coming out of the Volunteer State, surpassed only by soybeans and corn.
And while the crop is still a major contributor to the economies of Mississippi, Alabama and other Mid-South states, Tennessee is the only state in the region expected to grow the number of acres planted with cotton this year, according to a report from cottongrower.com, a website that keeps its eye on the effect of the cotton industry on the American economy.