Arkansas Cotton Gins Sink to All-Time Low, but State Has Most Productive Gin in U.S.

By Mary Hightower

While the number of gins in Arkansas has declined to tie the all-time low of 26 set in 2015, the state still boasts the nation’s busiest gin. 

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, tracks the number of gins in the United States.

“Gins close for various reasons: a decline in cotton acreage, obsolescence, and consolidation with another gin,” said Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “It’s the continuation of a long-running trend.

“Are 26 gins enough? Maybe so,” Stiles said.

“The sheer number of gins seem small relative to the almost 2 million bales of volume ginned in 2024, but the overwhelming majority of gins are running well over 40,000 bales through them,” he said.

Stiles said Arkansas had the gin with the highest output in the U.S. in 2024  McClendon Mann & Felton Gin in Marianna  ginning 242,706 bales of cotton that year.

A challenging crop

Cotton is a challenging crop to grow.

“Production costs are high relative to soybeans. It’s management intensive. The harvesting equipment is one-dimensional and takes a massive capital investment,” he said. On top of all that, for the U.S., cotton is an export-dependent crop and world trade of cotton is becoming more competitive each year.”

In recent years, the state's cotton acreage stayed in a range of 450,000 to 650,000 acres with growers responding to the market. Last year, Arkansas harvested 640,000 acres of cotton, according to NASS.