As a result of the arid weather conditions of the Southwest, cotton grown here pose ginning problems not common to other more humid regions of the Cotton Belt. The Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory in Mesilla Park, New Mexico is a research institution whose primary purpose is to study and find solutions to these ginning problems involving irrigated high-quality long and extra-long staple cotton. Established by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, we have served the needs of the ginning community of the Southwest since 1949.

The mission of the Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory is to develop improved methods for ginning cotton in the irrigated west. This goal falls within the mission of National Program 306, part of which is, "To enhance the economic viability and competitiveness of U.S. agriculture by maintaining the quality of harvested agricultural commodities or otherwise enhancing their marketability, meeting consumer needs, developing environmentally friendly and efficient processing concepts.....". Ginning is a process that cotton goes through after harvest but prior to marketing the resultant fiber and seed. There is acute need of ginning research to develop new cotton gin equipment subsystems, components, instrumentation, and control techniques for conditioning, ginning, and cleaning cottons that will preserve fiber quality and maximize spinnability. Ginning is one step in the total cotton system, and it interacts with earlier steps such as harvesting and later steps such as mill processing.