Photos: High Cotton Award winners 2013

CALIFORNIA FARMER Chad Crivelli, Dos Palos, Calif., has been named High Cotton Award winner for the Western states.

IN ADDITION to operating the family’s 1,800-acre farm, Chad Crivelli also custom harvests crops and is always on the phone keeping track of the crews.

THE CRIVELLIS, from left, Bill, Chad, 18-month old Jack and Holly.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA IPM advisor Pete Goodell, left, and Chad Crivelli evaluate lygus loss at a field day on the Crivelli farm.

JACK CRIVELLI, 18 months old, can’t get into the tractor cab yet, but he can crawl inside the big tractor wheel.

CHAD CRIVELLI is just 33 years old, but has already logged 18 years of farming.

JOHN WILDE, San Angelo, Texas, is the 2012 High Cotton Award winner for the Southwest region.

ROOT ROT has created serious problems for John Wilde and other Rolling Plains and Central Texas farmers. A root rot trial on Wilde’s farm has helped identify a control agent for the devastating disease.

CHECKING ON HARVEST progress, John Wilde expected the 2012 cotton crop to be better than the drought-plagued 2011 one.

THE WILDES, Matt, John and Doug, farm together on some land that has been in the Wilde family for more than 100 years.

FAMILY VALUES are a significant part of John Wilde’s life. Here, he poses with most of his family. From the left are: wife Betty Jo, son Matt, daughter-in-law Sarah and her husband Doug, John (holding granddaughter Caroline) and daughter Joanna. Daughter Julie Garcia was unavailable.

FOUR-BALE COTTON is likely on this field near Miles, Texas. John Wilde says drip irrigation is a key to good yield and efficient water use.

JOHNNY LITTLE, Delta High Cotton Award winner, enjoys producing cotton, but it’s getting tougher with high input costs and low cotton prices relative to grains.

COTTON YIELDS were better than expected on Little and Little Farms this year, says 2013 High Cotton winner Johnny Little. He attributes it to good fertility, making the correct variety selection and decent growing conditions.

NORTH CAROLINA FARMER Linwood Vick has been named High Cotton Award winner for the Southeast states.

CHECKING COTTON blooms last summer, N.C. grower Linwood Vick thought he had a bumper crop.

CHECKING COTTON with his boots in the dirt is an everyday part of the job says Wilson, N.C., cotton grower Linwood Vick.

THE 2012 cotton crop was good, not great for Linwood Vick.

VICK FAMILY FARMS includes family members, from left, Linwood, Jerome, Dianne and Charlotte Vick.

TAKING CARE of the environment is a critical to sustainability in farming says N.C. grower Linwood Vick.

SWEET POTATOES are a big part of Vick Family Farms operation.

TOBACCO PRODUCTION in North Carolina continues in a big way on the Vick farm.