Caywood Farm

Last winter when we were in Casa Grande a place on our list to visit/tour in the area was already closed in late February. Why? It's mainly a cotton farm and all the cotton was already picked, off to market and all cotton stalks, according to Arizona Cotton Research and Protection Council, must be shredded and destroyed by February 15th to curtail unwanted insects into the soil. 

Alfalfa and some barley are also grown but cotton is the main crop.

Yesterday we finally made the visit.

Caywood Farm is a fourth generation cotton farm in Casa Grande, AZ, and the owners are friendly, down to earth folks. 

The tour begins with a free bag of popcorn (made with cotton seed oil) which you enjoy while examining the cotton harvesting equipment and visiting with the resident horses and pig. After everyone is checked in, Nancy, an agricultural professor, uses samples of cotton, photographs, and other tools to teach you all about the cotton growing industry. This is followed by a tractor drawn hayride to a 4 acre cotton field, that is left to stand until the tour season is over, where you are allowed to pick your own cotton. 

The tour lasts 2/1/2 hours.

Next planting will be in April provided there is enough water as the area is in a drought. Water comes gets to farms via canals from a dam/reservoir on the Colorado River that passes through the San Carlos Indian Reservation nearby. Locals here call the water 'gold' and pay dearly so much an acre to get it. However with the drought the reservoirs are showing the stress so allocations of water for farmers are less and less the last few years. 

At one time, there were about 400,000 acres of cotton in Arizona. Now it's about 200,000.

Prices rise and fall, but cotton brings millions of dollars to the state's economy every year.

As for where all those bales (about 500 pounds each) go, where do you think they go? Often to big warehouses operated by farmers cooperatives to help get the best prices, which bounce around from year to year.

The buyers sell it to fabric manufacturers, among others. It is estimated that Arizona grows enough cotton to make a pair of jeans for every adult and child in the United States every year.

Monsanto Company, a Fortune 500 company, thrives on the agricultural sector in Casa Grande. The company moved its Arizona Cotton Research Center to Casa Grande to occupy a 40,000-square-foot research and development facility in 2010. Nearly all cotton grown in the South originates from seeds grown and cotton strains developed in Casa Grande.

Very educational tour. With temps in the low 70's it was a great day to visit Caywood Farm.