Cotton’s Story Through the Eyes of Alexander Hamilton on America’s 250th Birthday
by Kara Bishop, Vice President of Communication & Public Affairs, Plains Cotton Growers
I am not throwin’ away my shot
I am not throwin’ away my shot
Hey yo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwin’ away my shot
As they walked off the boat and onto soil that would later declare independence as its own free nation, both Alexander Hamilton and Tench Coxe were obsessed with autonomy. Working their way up to secretary of the treasury and assistant secretary of the treasury, respectively, these two men were key players in laying the foundation for the domestic fiber industry in what would eventually become the United States of America.
The Foundation to Bring U.S. Cotton Back Home
I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal
Tryna reach my goal my power of speech, unimpeachable
Hamilton has more to his story than the catchy Broadway Musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda encapsulates. Born into a cotton-producing family, Hamilton recognized the commodity’s potential for a fledgling America. He predicted in 1775 that America would one day “produce enough of the fiber to clothe the whole continent.”
That prediction would be more accurate if we bought our cotton back in finished goods. So, to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we’re advocating for the perfect gift: the Buying American Cotton Act (BACA).
BACA began as an idea to generate domestic demand and has since evolved into a living, breathing savior to U.S. cotton. The possibility of the bill’s enactment has already prompted other countries to retool their textile infrastructure. Ironically, the modern BACA movement closely parallels Coxe’s 1786 campaign to promote U.S. cotton textile manufacturing. While we no longer have the textile mills here in America that we once did, BACA would serve as a lifeline for the mills we do have and would support the entire cotton industry supply chain in a way that has never been done before.
The Foundation to Fight for Infrastructure
We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!
We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!
We channeled Hamilton’s persistence with the development and advocacy of House Bill 43. What started as a federal attempt became a pivot to the State House as we spent three years seeking relief for our infrastructure segment. While we represent producers, we understand the need for all segments of the cotton industry to succeed.
And after three years of putting it all on the line and giving 150 percent of what we had to give, it was enacted. The enactment of HB43 became the biggest investment in Texas agriculture in 60 years and is intended to shore up significant loss for both infrastructure and producers who have been so negatively impacted by drought.
During the rule development, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority (TAFA) determined the funding would be issued in four different tiers:
- AgLink Continuity Grant (infrastructure)
- AgPro (producer)
- AgDefense (research pest)
- AgBoost (agricultural businesses)
The AgLink Continuity Grant is going to be one of the most impactful grants for infrastructure, as nothing in Texas has ever been done like this before. Infrastructure hasn’t had many options for risk mitigation, and with the years of drought our region has faced, they needed support. This program was designed to help our agricultural businesses (such as a cotton gin or warehouse) keep the doors open for the next crop year.
We can now say with enthusiasm that the long-awaited infrastructure funding has been awarded. Awards were announced on July 6, 2026, and funds will be released to recipients soon based on the TDA/TAFA guidelines.
Of the $22.4 million awarded, an estimated $14 million went to cotton gins (subject to application review), and over half of that will go to gins in the PCG service area.
While two of the three attempts for this effort may not have gone as we hoped, Hamilton didn’t win every time, either. His first real political victory took place “in the room where it happened,” and PCG has been sitting at the table in every room making sure our producers win, too.
One such room is where the Harvest Cost Endorsement (HCE) conversation is taking place. It’s no secret that our industry downstream segments rely on volume; however, there hasn’t been a real solution to increasing volume without economic harm to the producer segment — until now.
HCE provides a tangible solution to the volume/economic harvest problem. This effort has been a fight for several years now, but we believe we will win just as our forefathers believed in their own victories.
Tenacity Comes Full-Circle
It seems like a full-circle moment to celebrate 250 years of Cotton and America together. The ideals our Founding Fathers believed in and fought for are still reflected in your High Plains cotton advocacy group as we continue fighting for your commodity. Perhaps no one captures that spirit better than Lin-Manuel Miranda in the closing lines of a famous song from Hamilton. Those words embody the spirit on which America was founded — the same spirit that continues to drive the people of Plains Cotton Growers and Plains Cotton Cooperative Association 250 years later.
This is not a moment, it’s a movement
Where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went?
Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand
We roll like Moses, claimin’ our promised land
I know the action in the street is excitin’
But, between all the bleedin’ ‘n fightin’
I’ve been readin’ ‘n writin’
We need to handle our financial situation
Are we a nation of states? What’s the state of our nation?
I’m past patiently waitin’. I’m passionately smashin’ every expectation
Every action’s an act of creation!
I’m laughin’ in the face of casualties and sorrow
For the first time, I’m thinking past tomorrow
God bless the USA, and God bless the U.S. cotton industry.
