This research evaluates whether or not hedging strategies using call options on the New York Board of Trade cotton futures can be effectively used to protect the new counter-cyclical payment on cotton. Results indicate that some level of counter-cyclical payment hedging is optimal for risk averse decision makers. Optimal hedge ratios depend on planting time expectations of the marketing year average price as well as on what crop, if any, has been planted on the base acres receiving the counter-cyclical payment.