Made in Tennessee with Farmers Gin of Humboldt

James Wages is the general manager of farmers’ gin of Humboldt and came into the cotton ginning industry straight out of college.

“Well, I got in the gin business through college. I graduated from Mississippi State with an Agg Engineering degree with an emphasis in ginning management,” said wages.

Wages has been in the business for about twenty years and says it is a lot of hard work, but it is worth it.

“Oh, yes, it’s. It’s a lot of hours this time of year, twelve to sixteen hours every day, seven days a week. But it only lasts for about two and a half months,” he said.

The company’s cotton farmers begin their crops in may. it takes about 110 days for it to grow, and once it is picked, it goes to the gin.

James Wages-General Manager of Famers Gin of Humboldt

“We’ll start ginning at the end of September and usually run into about the first of December.”

The ginning process gets the cotton ready for use. Wages say the farmer’s gin of Humboldt prepares cotton for ten global companies.

“Through the ginning process, our main objective is to remove the seed and the trash from the fiber. Once we do that, we put it into a 500-pound Beale, put it into the warehouse to be stored until the buyer calls, and orders it.”

One bale of cotton can produce over 200 pairs of jeans and over 12 hundred pillowcases.

Outside of selling cotton, cottonseed oil is a massive seller for the company.

“The oil is some of the highest quality cooking oil that you can get. It used is several snack foods.”

The oil is not available in stores, but it is sold by the gallon at the Farmer’s Gin of Humboldt.