Picking Weeds out of a Cotton Field
On one of my adventures recently, I traveled to Nashville, GA with my buddy Rob Rainey to photograph how cotton fields are tended and weeded by humans. The weeds are called Pig Weed and no herbicide can control them. The only way to get rid of them is to hire migrant workers to comb the fields and pull them by hand. These weeds can get very prolific, like Kudzu, if left unattended. The primary reason they are picked is because at harvest time, the root balls are so strong and large in diameter that they clog up the harvesting machines and sometimes even damage them costing much to repair. It is only mid growing season here at the end of July and this cotton was already up to my chest in height. One of the workers told me that by harvest time, the plants are way above your head. I had only seen short cotton fields before. The first shots were more like I knew. Then I and Rob trudged out in the fields to capture the work ethic of these wonderful workers. BTW: it was nearly 100 degrees without any wind whatsoever.
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