Some of you may already know this, but I'm gonna give you some background. My family has lived off of cotton since the early 1800s. We have a 600 acre cotton farm in south Alabama that has survived through our nation's history. Yes, my ancestors had slaves and most of the slave houses on our farm are preserved for their historical significance. It survived the War of 1812, the Civil War, WW1, the Great Depression, WW2, Hurricane Frederick, Hurricane Katrina(a lot of other hurricanes too)and everything in between. We have made a comfortable yet rewarding living off of it.

This is one of our slave houses. We call it "Cabin 3" because that's what our ancestors called them. They referred to each cabin by a number.

Cotton prices just continued to rise, and we profited off of it. Because cotton prices were high, you payed more for your clothes and furniture. Because you payed more for your clothes and furniture, the government got more tax money from you. When the government has a solid source of revenue coming in, they charge businesses less taxes, which allowed them to pay you and your parents a higher salary. It's basic high school economics.

Well everyone here knows what happens when the price of something rises really high for an extended period of time, right? Come on, think. It's one of the reasons we're in this recession- Remember when the housing bubble burst?

Well, now the cotton bubble has burst. 

When we harvested in 2007, cotton prices were about 70 cents/pound, which is a fairly high price. There's 480 pounds/bale and we normally produce a little over 1000 bales of cotton on an OK year. 

When we harvested in 2008, cotton prices were about 85 cents/pound. We felt like we struck gold last year, but then we soon realized what was happening.

Right now, cotton prices are at 55 cents/pound. Yes it's normal for prices to drop after a good year, but not to these extremes. 55 cents/pound is a terrible price and it looks like it's going down down down. We've received a letter from the Department of Agriculture. It pretty much said, "We are doing everything we can to get the funding to subsidize cotton. We should have the funding in 6 months so please remain calm". 

My dad tells me that they told us that same thing in the late 1960's recession. We're still waiting... 

So why do I have to do this? Because we love our farm. Also, cotton is a necessity. Cotton is used for everything, even manufacturing goods. When cotton prices go down, the prices of everything else will go down because cotton is used for everything. This is a bad thing, not a good thing.

I'm going to be in charge of the farm, and my dad is going to look for a desk job. He has a Masters Degree in Accounting, so he hopes he has a better chance of getting a desk job than I do.

My mom told me everything happens for a reason. I'm trying to find the good in this, but it's hard. I'll get to do what I've always enjoyed, but I wanted a college degree more than anything. I'm not gonna turn my back on them though; they've given me everything they could: I went to a private school, they payed for college, they gave me every opportunity they could.

At least I'll get to spend more time on Giant Bomb! I guess that's one positive.