SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - A Louisiana farmer has been elected to head the export marketing and promotion arm of the National Cotton Council.

The Shreveport Times reports Ted Schneider will head Cotton Council International.

Schneider is an LSU graduate who farms about 3,600 acres from his Lake Providence headquarters including cotton.

He says 20 years ago the United States used 80 percent of the cotton grown here domestically but now 80 percent is exported.

Most of those customers are in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey and China.

He says it's "absolutely critical" that international customers can trust American producers to deliver a high-quality product in a timely manner.

After drops in cotton production, the newspaper reports Louisiana saw a modest growth in 2017 of the amount of acreage devoted to the crop.