International markets will pay a premium for U.S. cotton because of its high quality. And one Texas cotton gin has recently installed DNA tagging technology.

The ability to trace the cotton to the source of the specific farm it was grown on is part of a new technology called DNA tagging, according to Southwest Farm Press. This technology developed by Applied DNA Sciences, called SigNature T DNA tagging, allows manufacturers, retailers and consumers to trace products back to the farm where the cotton was grown.

King Mesa Gin, Inc. in Lamesa is the first gin in Texas to use the technology and the sixth to install it in the U.S.

“DNA-tagged cotton means that people here in the U.S. can keep on growing, harvesting and ginning cotton. Cotton is the fiber of our lives,” King Mesa CEO Jerry Harris told Southwest Farm Press.