Plains Cotton Cooperative Association

What Plains Cotton Cooperative Association does

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) is a farmer-owned cotton marketing cooperative founded in 1953 and headquartered in Lubbock, Texas. It is governed by a Board of Directors elected from 11 geographic districts and is owned by approximately 15,000 cotton producer-members across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico. PCCA markets cotton on behalf of grower-owners through seasonal pools (WTX/OK/KS, STX, and Pima), cash marketing, forward contracts, and the recently launched Pool+ embedded options pricing program, and operates as one of the largest originators of U.S. cotton to textile mills worldwide.

PCCA's core technology and infrastructure include eight owned cotton warehouse facilities across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico (Altus OK, Big Spring TX, Clearwater KS, Liberal KS, Rule TX, Sweetwater TX, El Campo TX, Lovington NM) with combined capacity exceeding one million bales, plus a private intermodal rail facility that ships cotton to West Coast ports and has saved over 5 million truck miles. The cooperative develops and supports proprietary software for member co-op gins, including Member Access, Gin Access, Field Services Access, Outside Warehouse Access, and Cotton Merchant Access, delivered through the services.pcca.com portal and the myPCCA mobile app. The Warehouse Division handled a record 2,155,212 bales in fiscal 2017-18.

PCCA operates on a cooperative patronage model: it markets and warehouses members' cotton, retains a portion of net margins to cover operations and reinvestment, and returns the remainder to grower-owners as year-end cash dividends and stock/base capital plan retributions (FY2016-17 net margins of $45.23M; year-end distributions ranging from $19.48M in 2022 to $37.34M in 2017). Revenue streams include cotton marketing program margins, warehousing and storage fees, intermodal rail logistics, and subscription-style software services to co-op gins. Direct sales to global textile mills are supported by dedicated sales representatives, and the cooperative has held the Milliken Distinguished Supplier Award for multiple consecutive years. PCCA's wholly owned subsidiary Telmark was integrated into the parent in September 2025 to extend marketing programs more broadly to independent gins.

Name

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association

Legal name

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association

Website

https://pcca.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association is a farmer-owned cotton marketing cooperative founded in 1953, serving approximately 15,000 grower-owners across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico with cotton marketing pools, owned warehousing, intermodal rail logistics, and proprietary gin software, and selling directly to global textile mills.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Cotton Marketing Cooperative

NAICS

Other Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers (424590), Farm Product Warehousing and Storage (493130)

SIC

Wholesale-Farm Product Raw Materials (5150)

akta.pro primary industry

Fiber Crop Contract & Identity-Preserved Farming (Traceable/Certified Programs) (AFAGAFAG)

Keywords

• Cotton marketing services
• Cotton warehousing logistics
• Agricultural cooperative services
• Cotton merchandising pools
• Intermodal rail transport

Headquarters

HQ city

Lubbock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cotton Marketing Programs: Revenues generated from cotton marketing services for member-growers including Pool Marketing (WTX/OK/KS, STX, and Pima seasonal pools), Cash Marketing, and Forward Contracts; PCCA leverages volume and mill relationships to capture margins between growers/merchants and merchants/mills, then returns net margins to grower-owners as patronage.
2. Cotton Warehousing and Storage: Storage, sorting, and shipping fees from cotton warehouse facilities in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, including private intermodal rail logistics to West Coast ports.
3. Software Services to Co-op Gins: Software-as-a-service and network services offered to local co-op gins (e.g., Member Access, Gin Access, Field Services Access, Outside Warehouse Services), enabling gin accounting, invoicing, and patronage tracking.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Plains Cotton Cooperative Association is a farmer-owned cotton marketing cooperative that markets and warehouses cotton on behalf of approximately 15,000 cotton producer-owners across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico. Its core offerings include cotton marketing programs (seasonal pools, Pool+ flexible pricing, cash marketing, forward contracts, and a Pima pool), owned cotton warehousing across eight facilities, and a private intermodal rail facility connecting grower-owners' cotton to West Coast ports, supported by proprietary member, gin, and merchant software portals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pool+: A flexible pricing program designed exclusively for members of PCCA's seasonal pools, allowing combination of pool benefits with embedded long call or put pricing strategies; requires seasonal pool enrollment and a minimum of 50 bales of aggregate pool production.
• myPCCA

Products and services

• Cotton Marketing (Pool Marketing) Seasonal pool cotton marketing program in which PCCA markets members' cotton over an entire marketing season to capture a strong average price; includes WTX/OK/KS and STX regional pools plus the Pima Marketing Pool, serving grower-owners in TX, OK, KS, and NM.
• Pool+ Flexible Pricing Program Flexible pricing add-on program exclusive to seasonal pool members that embeds long call or put pricing strategies into pool contracts; requires minimum 50 bales aggregate pool production, allows up to three call/put strategies, and is accessible via Member Access and the myPCCA mobile app.
• Cash Marketing Cash-market cotton selling option that lets grower-owners sell directly into the cash market through PCCA's sales staff rather than through a seasonal pool.
• Forward Contracts Forward-contract cotton marketing option allowing grower-owners to lock in prices ahead of delivery using PCCA's market access and merchandising relationships.
• Pima Marketing Pool Seasonal pool specifically for Pima (extra-long staple) cotton, run under PCCA's broader pool marketing framework and serving growers of extra-long staple cotton in PCCA's territory.
• Cotton Warehousing Owned cotton warehouse facilities in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico providing storage, sorting, and shipping services for grower-owners' cotton, with published annual warehouse tariffs by location.
• Private Intermodal Rail Facility PCCA-developed private intermodal rail facility that ships grower-owners' cotton to West Coast ports, reducing fuel and labor costs and saving over 5 million truck miles on the road.
• Member Access & myPCCA Mobile App Self-serve online and mobile software portals that give grower-members access to gin account information, invoices, patronage statements, and pricing positions including Pool+ strategies, hosted on services.pcca.com.
• Gin Services (Gin Access / Field Services Access / Outside Warehouse Services / Cotton Merchant Access) Cooperative-style software and services for co-op gins covering accounting, field services support, outside warehouse services, and cotton merchant access; provided through PCCA following the integration of wholly owned subsidiary Telmark into the cooperative.

Quantifiable outcome

• Pool members reaped more than $118 million above the Commodity Credit Corporation loan in fiscal 2015-16
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core, major and minor.

• Telmark (wholly owned subsidiary)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2025PCCA announced on Sept. 19, 2025 that it would integrate Telmark's operations into PCCA. Telmark was originally established to provide cooperative-style services to independent gins. Integrating Telmark into PCCA extends the benefits of PCCA's marketing programs more broadly while continuing to provide excellent service and keeping costs low. Telmark employees continue their work as part of PCCA, moving into new roles across Sales & Marketing, Accounting, and Cotton Services.
• Farmers Cooperative Compress (FCC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFarmers Cooperative Compress is the world's largest inland cotton storage warehouse, capable of breaking out and loading up to 12,000 bales of cotton per day under Rex McKinney's leadership (1973+). FCC reached a $1 billion mark in dividend disbursement and serves as a complementary warehousing operation supporting PCCA's marketing efforts.
• Milliken & CompanymajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor textile mill customer of PCCA based in Spartanburg, SC. PCCA received Milliken's Distinguished Supplier Award for five consecutive years based on 100% EDI use, advance shipment notice, 100% first-quality product, 99% on-time delivery, and participation in joint cost-reduction efforts. Milliken recognizes suppliers at two levels: Distinguished Supplier and Progressive Supplier.
• Cotton IncorporatedmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCCA Director Marvin Beyer was elected Chairman of Cotton Incorporated (announced July 2025), representing PCCA's deep governance ties to Cotton Incorporated's research and promotion activities for U.S. cotton. PCCA members have historically served as directors and alternates.
• National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCCA CEO Kevin Brinkley was elected Chairman of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), reflecting PCCA's leadership role in the national cooperative movement and advocacy on behalf of farmer-owned cooperatives.
• Texas Agricultural Cooperative Council (TACC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTACC is the primary cooperative trade body in Texas; PCCA President Van May was named TACC Cooperator of the Year (1997), and PCCA directors and staff have served on TACC's Board and legislative committee for decades, including Doyce Middlebrook's service since 1982.
• National Cotton CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCCA leadership has served on the National Cotton Council including on the Cotton Information Technology Committee, Packaging and Distribution Committee (as chairman), and as cooperative delegates. Van May is a graduate of the Cotton Council's Cotton Leadership Program.
• Texas Tech UniversitycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPCCA collaborates with Texas Tech's Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics on the Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) program, cotton physiology research, and agricultural economics studies; Texas Tech has recognized PCCA co-op leaders (Van May as 1993 Texas Tech Outstanding Agriculturist; Rex McKinney in 1993). PCCA also runs a long-standing agricultural communications internship program with the university.
• BayerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBayer is referenced in a Field & Fiber article ('From Raw to Refined: How Bayer Delivers the Future of Cotton From Lubbock') covering Bayer's cotton-related activities in Lubbock, where PCCA is headquartered.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Staple Cotton Cooperative Association (Staplcotn): U.S. cotton marketing cooperative headquartered in Greenwood, MS, owned by growers across the Mid-South and Southeast. Same cooperative model, same pool marketing and warehousing services, same target textile-mill customer base — the most direct comparator to PCCA.
• Calcot Limited: California-based cotton marketing cooperative serving growers in the Southwest U.S. (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas). Same grower-owned structure and pool-based cotton marketing as PCCA, competing for textile-mill business from a Western U.S. footprint.
• Carolinas Cotton Growers Cooperative Association: Southeast U.S. cotton cooperative serving growers in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. Same cooperative marketing model as PCCA, supplying U.S. cotton to domestic and international textile mills; directly comparable in product and customer base.
• Farmers Cooperative Compress (FCC): Cotton warehousing and compress cooperative identified in PCCA's own materials as a complementary operation; comparable in being a grower-oriented cotton logistics company, with overlapping physical infrastructure and grower relationships in Texas.

Broad incumbents

• National Cotton Council of America: The central U.S. cotton industry trade body in which PCCA's leadership is deeply involved. Not a direct competitor, but the broad incumbent whose policies and promotion efforts shape the market in which PCCA operates.
• Cotton Incorporated: Research and promotion organization for U.S. cotton; chaired by a PCCA director in 2025. An adjacent industry incumbent rather than a competitor, but materially relevant as a counterpart in the U.S. cotton value chain.
• Louis Dreyfus Company (Allenberg Cotton): One of the world's largest cotton merchandisers and originators. Competes with PCCA for global textile-mill accounts and offers gin/warehouse services at much greater scale, though not on a grower-owned cooperative basis.
• Olam International (ofi cotton): Global cotton merchandiser and originator serving textile mills worldwide; competes with PCCA's cotton marketing program for international mill customers, with a much broader geographic and product footprint.

Others

• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Global agribusiness and commodity merchandiser. Not a cotton cooperative, but a comparable large-scale agricultural commodity handler whose logistics and merchandising footprint overlaps with PCCA's warehousing and trading activities.
• Bayer Crop Science (formerly Monsanto cotton business): Major cotton seed and trait provider; not a direct competitor, but a key ag-input partner operating in the same grower ecosystem PCCA serves and referenced in PCCA's own publications.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/plainscotton
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/PlainsCotton
• Facebookfacebook.com/plainscotton
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/plains-cotton-cooperative-association
• Instagraminstagram.com/plainscotton

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Plains Cotton Cooperative Association