The class visited the cotton gin in Missouri. At the gin the class learned about the particular processes that take place at the gin. The overall main process that takes place at the gin is the separating of the cotton seed from the lint. The class saw the process from separation to packaging at the end of the line. To start the process the cotton is delivered to the gin by a type of gin truck called a module truck that picks up the bales of cotton from the fields. (Modern cotton pickers bale cotton as if it were hay; each bale is called a module.) The module trucks back the cotton up to an escalator type machine, also known as a roller that moves the modules to be unwrapped from its module and then broken down from its bale shape. (The plastic module wrapping is recycled by the gin) The next step is getting the cotton to about 7% moisture. The dryer the cotton the easier it is to work with and to store. Most cotton gins use gas fired dryers. The cotton is also cleaned and some material is extracted. Burs, stems, and sticks are removed from the cotton. The next step can be considered the most important step in the process. The cotton is separated from the cotton seed. This is done by a “gin stand”. The cotton enters a roll box where the lint is removed from the seed. The seeds fall to the bottom of the gin stand while the cotton fibers are brushed off the saws that separated them to begin with. The lint cotton goes through another cleaner where it is brushed again to remove any leaf or stick material that may still be intact. The cotton seeds are sent out to storage to be sold as feed to dairy cows or other use. The next step in the process consists of the cotton being condensed and baled. The lint cotton is formed into batt's and then fed into a baling press where the cotton is compressed into small bales. Roughly 480 pounds are pressed into each bale before it is wrapped. The cotton is wrapped in plastic and then sealed but means of heating iron. The bales are then stored for shipment. The class got to see firsthand the process of cotton from its raw form in the field, to the cotton coming out of a picker in a module, to it being picked up and unloaded by a module truck, to the cleaning and separating all the way to the cotton being packaged. It’s amazing to see how far the industry has come from hand picking to the advancement of modern technologies enabling the production of more cotton at a faster rate.