Randy Boman
Associate Professor and Extension Agronomist -Cotton
Ph.D., Oklahoma State University, 1994

I work with the cotton industry in the southern High Plains region (SHP) of Texas (Texas Cooperative Extension District 2). The SHP annually produces about 3 million bales of cotton and plants about 3 to 4 million acres. This equates to about 35% of the U.S. cotton acreage. This region has been dubbed by some to be “the largest cotton patch” in the world. The region is about 50% irrigated and 50% dryland. Much of the irrigated land is under center pivot irrigation, and approximately 250,000 acres are irrigated using sub-surface drip. We serve a diverse clientele including Extension agents, producers, consultants, and industry representatives. Our educational programs range from county Extension turnrow meetings to the Beltwide Cotton Conference. In addition to our educational outreach, we also conduct an applied cotton research and demonstration program. We partner with other faculty and personnel with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas Tech University, and USDA-ARS on projects that are focused on solving problems encountered in High Plains cotton production. We are currently conducting cotton variety/technology (systems variety testing), plant growth regulator, harvest aid and other type trials - most in producer-cooperator fields. High quality information obtained from these projects is used to generate publications and other educational materials which are distributed via local producer meetings and through High Plains agricultural mass communications. Much of this information is posted on the Lubbock Center Web site at: http://lubbock.tamu.edu