Wichita ? Cotton continues to make strides in Kansas, with production in 2004 expected to almost double that of 2003. Another 40 percent increase in production is projected for 2005, producers were told last week during the annual Cotton Summit at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center.

At the gin at Moscow in Stevens County, ginning of the 2004 crop should be finished by today. Construction on an addition that will double the gin’s capacity will begin May 1.

“We need to gin faster,” gin manager Bob Davis said. “We’d ideally like to be done by the end of January, not the beginning of April.

“We also anticipate another big increase in volume. We’ll do 55,000 bales this year, and we expect that to go up to maybe 70,000 next year.”

Cotton is grown in 28 Kansas counties, primarily the southernmost counties.

Southwest Kansas is the most recent addition to cotton country, and growth there has been explosive. Stevens County became the top cotton producer in the state in 2002.

As production has increased, so has the economic impact. Cotton revenues totaled more than $36 million in 2003 and provided payrolls of almost $2 million at the state’s four gins.

Cotton has become a popular crop for a number of reasons, said Carl Seeliger of Winfield.

Money has been the primary factor encouraging cotton production. “Cotton has been very good to me,” Seeliger said.

“People are surprised when I tell them I plant cotton because I can make more money growing cotton than I can growing grain,” said Robert Miller of Wellington, president of the Kansas Cotton Assn. “But it’s true year after year.”

Cotton also appeals to farmers in water-scarce southwest Kansas because it requires little irrigation.