Clouds form behind a sprayer applying the final round of agricultural chemicals to a cotton field near Kennett, Mo. After planting, the cotton crop receives seven separate passes with the sprayer. 

Matthew Chandler, 31, drives his sprayer outside of Kennett. He is the fourth generation of the Chandler family to farm cotton in the area. “(Cotton) is all I’ve ever known,” he says, while deftly navigating between the rows. 

When Matthew's father, Joe, took over the farm decades ago, he hoped to gather about one and a half bales of cotton per acre. In order to make a profit today, Matthew needs to harvest almost double that. 

A farm hand mixes chemicals to make the cotton plants open their bolls and drop their leaves, making them easier to harvest. 

Matthew watches the gauge rise on his sprayer’s tank during a routine stop between fields. The new sprayers hold 820 gallons, almost double the capacity of their previous sprayers. 

Joe Chandler helps his three-year-old grandson, Cane, don rubber work gloves so he could help his father and uncle work with the sprayers. 

Cane "helps” his uncle Matthew clean the filters on one of the family’s sprayers. When given the option of staying home or going to the shop, his mother said, he was assertive: “Shop!” 

Joe holds another grandson Walker Chandler, 1, outside the family’s workshop. He still drives heavy machinery when necessary, but he spends more time these days wrangling grandkids and managing operations. 

Matthew drives home after nearly 12 hours in the field.

Matthew uses a firehose to wash the chemicals off of his sprayer at the end of a long day. “If you don’t do this, it’ll rust through in one season,” he said.