Photos: Cotton boom

Martine Ledesma operates a machine that compresses the cotton into giant modules for handling at Stone Land. Prices surged this summer and fall, as the USDA forecast that cotton stockpiles in China would be the tightest in more than a decade.
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A field of cotton is harvested in Stratford in Central California.
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Growers in California were expected to plant a total of 309,000 acres of Pima and upland cotton this year, up from 201,000 in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Nationwide, the total acreage of cotton planted grew nearly 21% this year to 11.04 million acres.
See full story  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A handful of cotton seeds taken from a large pile in Stratford, Calif., during harvesting.
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Farmer Tony Azevedo of Stone Land Co. inspects modules of harvested cotton in Stratford, Calif.
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Farmer Tony Azevedo in Stratford, Calif., worries about the possible effect of cotton’s price jump, asking, “In this economy, will people pay $2, $3, more for a cotton shirt?”
See full story  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)