October 14, 2013
Suspension of some $3 billion worth of federal loans due to the U.S. government shutdown has forced cotton farmers to turn to commercial banks for aid, boosting their costs and further complicating the upcoming harvest in the world's largest cotton exporter.
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"It's a colossal headache," said Darren Hudson, an agricultural economics expert and the Larry Combest Endowed Chair of Agricultural Competitiveness at Texas Tech University.