Cindy Hyde-Smith

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has proposed the Buying American Cotton Act to revitalize the nation's cotton industry.

The bill offers tax credits to U.S. companies that sell fabric or goods made with American cotton.

Mississippi's cotton production has declined, with acreage dropping significantly in the last year.

The legislation has gained support from industry leaders, retailers, and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

Mississippi farmers saw little relief from the state Legislature this session, with relatively few agriculture bills proposed and even fewer passed into law.

They may have to turn to their federal delegation for help, where U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has proposed a bill to revitalize the country's cotton industry.

The Buying American Cotton Act proposes tax credits for U.S.-based entities that sell cotton fabric or finished goods. More than a dozen of Hyde-Smith's colleagues have opted to cosponsor the legislation, including her counterpart U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and five legislators from neighboring states.

The tax credit applies to any cotton products that were fully manufactured in the United States or imported into the country after being partially or entirely made of U.S. cotton.

Hyde-Smith has touted the legislation as a much-needed bill that will transform the state's shrinking cotton production. Mississippi farmers planted approximately 330,000 acres of cotton last year, compared with approximately 520,000 the year before, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The quality of cotton is shrinking alongside quantity. The agency rated only 6% of the state's 2025 cotton crop as being in excellent condition, according to a September report.

"While cotton planted acreage is small compared to other major row crops, its economic output and associated jobs dwarf other major row crops on a per-acre basis — just do the math," Hyde-Smith said in a March 10 Senate Agriculture Committee hearing. "U.S. producers now have to export more than 85% of the cotton that they grow. Why can't we use that here?"

Hyde-Smith introduced a letter of support for the bill signed by farmers, industry leaders and retailers such as Target and GAP.

"We've lost 1,700 cotton gins since 1980 — 1,700. That infrastructure will never be replaced again," said Zippy Duvall, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, who testified at the hearing in favor of the measure. "We've seen it all over the Southeast and Southern part of our country. So, that bill will be a tremendous help not only to farmers, cotton farmers, but it'll be a big help for our rural communities in those areas of our country."

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At another Senate hearing a month later, Hyde-Smith's bill earned a key ally: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. She told Hyde-Smith that she was with her "100%" and the bill could be "a gamechanger" for farmers.

"Our farmers have just been devastated. We talk a lot about corn and soy and soybean, all the things, but I feel like our cotton guys have been a little bit left out," Rollins told the committee. "And I see a whole reinvigoration, hopefully, of that industry and bringing it back to where it needs to be."

Support from a cabinet-level official could prove to be what Hyde-Smith needs to do something she has never done before: pass a bill into law. She has sponsored 102 bills in her nearly eight years in Congress, but none have crossed the finish line.

The cotton bill is currently in the Senate finance committee, where it has been since May 2025. Hyde-Smith has until mid-December to muster enough support for the bill in both chambers for it to become law.