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Related Keywords: acreage, Beijing's farm policy, China, cotton grower, global supplies, India, stockpiling program, USDA, world's no.1, yarn makers

India likely to emerge as the world's No 1 cotton grower this year which will be for the first time in over 30 years, pushing China from the top spot, due to China’s unusual shift in global supplies amid ambiguity over Beijing’s farm policy, said US government said on Thursday.

Related Keywords: acreage, cotton, cotton industry, Florida cotton

Shaw and Shaw Farms of Alachua usually grow corn, peanuts and soybeans; have planted about 1,500 acres of cotton in 2013, accounting for the majority of the 2,529 acres in Alachua County. That is up from 69 acres countywide in 2011 and 608 acres in 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Co-owner Buckley Shaw said that the higher cotton prices, compared with a drop in peanut prices, made cotton more attractive in 2013 as they cut way down on peanut acreage to grow cotton for the first time in 10 years.