Packaged cotton

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I visually see changes in agriculture and society on my daily commute to Sumter. From the older compressed modular storage units of cotton, today’s extraordinarily complex cotton picking machines press the cotton into round units and wrap them in a protective covering before depositing them in the field, all the while continuing to pick cotton from the plants at the front of the machine. The vinyl coverings change color; I was accustomed to seeing yellow bale wrap but this year the fields are filled with pink vinyl wrapped bales. A farmer asked the machine’s producer to change to pink, the color promoting breast cancer knowledge, after he lost his sister to that disease. Now people passing the fields will see the distinctive pink to remind them of the importance of breast cancer awareness.