![Cotton-01[1]](http://webharvest.gov/congress115th/20190108195359im_/https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/styles/content_header_banner/public/media/Cotton-01%5B1%5D.jpg?itok=N8sHZlt0)
The Agricultural Marketing Service’s Cotton and Tobacco Program, based in Memphis, TN, facilitate the domestic and international fair marketing of cotton and tobacco through a variety of services used by industry to measure quality, ensure consistency and report market activity. The program’s standards are used by more than 50 countries for the instrument and visual grading of cotton and tobacco.
During a typical cotton season, the Program’s services are used to test raw cotton valued at about $6 billion. Its tobacco services include the grading and random sampling of certified samples that represent tens of millions of pounds of domestic and imported tobacco.
The AMS Cotton Program maintains a National Database (NDB) that allows owners or authorized agents of owners to retrieve classing data from the current crop and/or the previous four crops. The NDB stores classing information from all 10 regional classing offices.
Contact Info:
USDA, AMS, Cotton & Tobacco Program
3275 Appling Road, Room 11
Memphis, TN 38133
The AMS Cotton Program Headquarters is located in Memphis, TN. The building is available for tours Monday thru Friday from 8a.m. CST to 3:30pm CST.
For tour scheduling and availability please contact: Office of the Deputy Administrator at (901) 384-3000.