Culture Series: Cotton in the U.S.

Cotton and its history in the United States is the subject of the next Culture Series at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.

The presentation is at 7 p.m. on March 9 in the Museum’s Theater. The monthly Culture Series is organized and hosted by the Friends of the Museum. Admission is free.

Ed Hughes, a longtime lead researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Lab near New Mexico State University, is the speaker. Hughes, who worked in the cotton industry from 1976 until his retirement in 2017, will cover the history of cotton ginning and production in the U.S. from the earliest days on the East Coast to its migration to New Mexico and beyond. Hughes will talk about the importance of cotton over the history of its production.

Hughes was born in Quay County New Mexico and grew up on a small cattle ranch near Nara Visa, N.M. He received his bachelor’s degree from NMSU in 1972 and a master’s degree in agriculture engineering from Ohio State University. Hughes and his wife, Patricia, moved back to Las Cruces in 1976 when he went to work for the USDA’s Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Lab.