AMS Final Rule Amends Procedures for Determining Cotton Leaf Grade

The Agricultural Marketing Service issued a final rule amending the procedures for determining the official leaf grade for Upland and Pima cotton, effective April 6, 2012. The leaf grade is part of the official classification which denotes cotton fiber quality used in cotton marketing and manufacturing of cotton products. Previously, the leaf grade was determined by visual examination and comparison to the Universal Cotton Standards for Leaf Grade that serves as the official cotton standards by qualified cotton classers. Amended procedures replace the classer’s leaf determination with the instrument leaf measurement made by the High Volume Instrument (HVI) system, which has been used in official cotton classification for Upland Cotton since 1991.