Early mechanical cotton pickers

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The early mechanical cotton pickers dumped their filled bins into carriers which were then emptied into wagons in the field. Workers drove these wagons to the gin daily and waited for hours as each was emptied and credited to the farmer. The roadsides were littered with scattered cotton that blew out of these open topped wire wagons; the litter laws provided exemptions for this crop. In the 1970’s farmers purchased machines that compressed picked cotton into large modules covered with rain proof material that could remain in the field until the harvest was over. Before mechanical pickers, it took 100 manhours to pick one bale of cotton. Now even fewer workers are needed as none has to drive a tractor or ride behind a mule taking wagons to the gin.