Cotton is bustin’ out all over the South, but particularly in the fields of middle Georgia, the state that grows the most cotton in the Southern Crescent region. According to the Cotton Council International 2013 Buyers’ Guide, Georgia farmers grew more than 15 percent of the nation’s cotton in 2011-12 by producing 2.465 million bales. The only state that grew more cotton was Texas, which produced 3.5 million of the nation’s 15.573 million bales in 2011-12.
This photo was taken just north of the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Georgia Highway 121 in Emanuel County, which has almost 23,000 people and a poverty rate of 24.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census.
Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013, by Michael Kaynard. All rights reserved.