Cotton Cultivation Part One: from field to gin

Tuesday found me in Firebaugh, CA with a group of retail and environmental professionals, as well as students, for the annual Sustainable Cotton Project (SCP) tour. Led by Lynda Gross and Marcia Gibbs of SCP, we were taken from farm to gin to view cotton cultivation in California.

Here is a crash course.

Step 1: The farm

In the San Joaquin Valley cotton is mechanically planted in the spring. This field, viewed in early November, is about to be harvested. 

Step 2: Harvesting

Cotton in California is mechanically harvested – the process separates the boles of cotton from the plant. 


Boles are collected and then transferred to containers at the fields edge where they formed into rectangular storage modules. Several farms have also moved to more modern harvesters which create the module as well as harvest. These produce cylindrical modules. From the fields edge, modules are transported to the gin for processing.

Close up of harvesting process.

Transferring to a container where modules are created for transport to the gin.

Cylindrical modules.

 Step 2: The Gin

Ginning separates the cotton fibres from the seed. The fibres are then sent to a spinner for further processing, while the seed is converted to cottonseed oil, used for feed, or saved for planting.

Modules at the gin.

Breaking up the modules.

Fibre separation from seed; heavier seeds drop down while the lint is pulled away using pneumatic pipes.

Cotton bale, ready for wrapping and tagging.

From here the bales are wrapped, tagged and loaded onto trucks to be sold on the global market. I'll cover more of that in part two of the journey of cotton -gin to t-shirt.