Cotton Picker



	Four year old Eric Lark climbs out of the wagon to join his father Matt in a field of cotton in Martin County. Lark planted four acres of the fibrous crop that's indigenous to southern states just to see how it would grow in Indiana. He is giving the cotton away in small quantities to anyone who would like to visit his farm and pick it. A cotton expert was not aware of cotton having ever been grown in Indiana.

Matt Lark has done what fellow Hoosier farmers just haven’t tackled.

He has grown cotton in Indiana.

In sowing and nurturing the plant that’s one of the textile industry’s mainstays, Lark was acting, well, on a lark.

The venture was never about profit, but was instead about simply finding out whether cotton could be grown in Indiana and then giving it away to anybody who wanted to share in the yield.

Lark particularly wanted Hoosier youngsters to see cotton in the fields.

Lark said, “The reason I wanted to plant it around this area is, number one, you don’t see it, and it gives kids an opportunity on field trips… to see something unique to this area.”

It isn’t just a chance to pull the emerging white fiber from the woody cotton plant that is attracting groups of students to Lark’s farm this fall. Lark, an Indianapolis attorney who owns more than a thousand acres in Martin County, has taken 10 acres of a 120 acre cornfield and designed a sunflower-shaped corn maze that has come an autumn attraction.

The vision for a cotton patch is one that struck him about a year ago.

Lark also collects old tractors. From talking with other tractor enthusiasts he knows around the country and from his periodic travel in the South—where cotton is widely grown and is a lucrative enterprise—Lark heard the same story from people he met along the way.

“Everybody said you couldn’t grow it here…,” Lark said. “They said you can’t grow cotton anywhere north of Tennessee.”

“We thought we would try it,” Lark said, referring to neighbors and others who help him with his farming operation.

Lark was aware of an instance where cotton production had been attempted, but had failed, in Indiana. A friend of his from Greenfield had tried it around five years ago.

Cotton industry expert Mike McFatrich of Plano, Texas, said, “The farthest north I personally know that it has been grown is Leavenworth, Kan.” Growers there also acquired equipment for processing the crop.

“They had the whole infrastructure to support it…,” McFatrich said. “They did the whole shooting match.”

The cotton produced in Leavenworth was used for the manufacturing of mops.



As the pod breaks open the cotton emerges from the plant. The stem of the cotton plant is a woody texture.

Lark found that getting cotton seed was a difficult task, but someone pointed him to a company called Delta Pine in New Orleans.

“I called them and they sent it as a courtesy,” Lark said. “It was about 50 pounds. Fifty pounds will do about four and a half to five acres.”

Lark said Delta Pine is testing cotton in Virginia and was eager for him to try growing it in Indiana. “They wanted me to grow it and give them a follow-up on how it did here,” Lark said.

Lark’s report to Delta Pine is that the experiment went well. He credits the extended periods of hot weather experienced in Indiana this year. He said, “We would have had just as good of a yield here this year as you would have had in Alabama.”

McFatrich said cotton growers refer to yields in terms of pounds and bales. A bale amounts to 480 pounds. In terms of current market price, McFatrich said, “You’re looking at about 38 to 42 cents per pound.”

Lark estimated that if his cotton were sold, it would bring about $400 an acre, translating to about $1,600 for his entire crop.

But Lark isn’t selling the cotton. He gives it to anyone who would like to pick it as a Hoosier novelty.

“A lot of people have wanted to pick some to put in their flower arrangements,” he said.

Visitors to Lark’s farm, however, are picking only a fraction of the total yield. The rest of the field will be left as wildlife habitat for the winter.

“I’ll mow it down probably in April and replant,” Lark said.

McFatrich said Lark’s comparison of his yield to that in Alabama is reasonable, given the advent of short-season varieties of cotton over the last few years. But he also said, “This year in Alabama, they didn’t have a spectacular season.”

As for the similarity in yields, McFatrich said, “I wouldn’t expect that to be the case every year.”

McFatrich is cotton products manager for Gustafson LLC, a company that provides crop protection products. Various classifications of cotton determine how it is used, but it goes into such diverse products as shirts, tablecloths, blue jeans and rugs. McFatrich’s guess is that the variety Lark has grown is most suitable for shirts and linens—the softer products.

Despite a good yield this year, Lark doesn’t see much of a future for cotton in Indiana.

“I don’t think it’s going to ever be a viable crop choice here,” he said. Instead he sees it as a chance to help educate Hoosiers about a part of America’s history. Concerning the students and others who have visited his cotton patch, Lark said, “They received more of an appreciation for what the slaves years ago would have had to go through.”

Lark will receive visitors on his farm at least through Halloween. Signs directing visitors to the farm’s corn maze are posted on US 231 and Indiana 450. Group visits can be arranged by calling Lark at (812) 295-9555.

Photos by Scott Brunner

Corn Maze at Lark Ranch is Ideal Southern Indiana Family Entertainment!