Cotton: Background for 1990 Farm Legislation

Government programs since the 1930's have supported prices and attempted to adjust cotton acreage and production to meet market needs, with varying degrees of success. The Food Security Act of 1985 is generally considered successful in dealing with the cotton sector despite several problems. The marketing loan provisions of the act helped make cotton competitive in 1987 and some world market share was won back by U.S. cotton. However, in 1988-89 problems with the adjusted world price formula and with the storage terms resulted in owners of cotton holding stocks rather than releasing them to the market even though U.S. stocks were high