In 1886, Delta & Pine Land Company was chartered in Mississippi as a land speculation company, but was inactive until 1919, when a British textile company acquired the name. In the 1920-1930s, the company operated one of the largest cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta, with headquarters in Scott, Mississippi. In the latter half of the 20th century, the company divested its farm lands, concentrated on research and development of cotton and soybean seeds, and became world-renowned for its development of Deltapine cotton varieties.