Texas A&M AgriLife Research has reached a major milestone in increasing cotton's value with a food-ingredient cottonseed.

Photo courtesy of Cotton Incorporated EVANSVILLE, Ind., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The cotton industry hopes to launch a new market for a genetically modified cotton plant whose seeds are edible for humans.

Still, he wants seeds that can perform better in dry conditions to provide a much needed lift to profits. "My grandad, 30-40 years ago, could buy a new tractor for $20,000," Hogue said.

Cotton seeds traveled to the International Space Station earlier this month for an experiment called "Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation," or "tic toc" for short.

Introduced in 1996, GM cotton provided a much-needed alternative to conventional cotton, which was struggling due to excessive pest damage. Letkeman recalls when he started using GM cotton seeds.

Turns out, the cotton seed was there all the time, just not being delivered by the farmers who were holding onto it in the hopes that prices would rise again to the levels of a few seasons back ...

The cotton seeds aboard a lunar lander had encouraged hopes that plants could grow on the moon. But days after China boasted of the experiment's success, the tender shoots died.

Yet based on the limited quantities of organic seed in circulation, industry insiders say the amount of organic cotton on the market today is impossible. “Seeds are not available,” said Mr ...

India is the No. 1 cotton producer in the world, but its crop is in distress. Heavy use of pesticides, new genetically modified seeds, suicides, and an overabundance of seed choices have interacted ...

The GM cotton seed variety could cut the cost of cultivation in India, boost crop yields and act as an antidote to the pink bollworm pest, farm policy experts said.