Abstract: Through the analysis of China’s cotton planting situation, production benefits, and mechanization development during the "13 th Five-Year Plan" period, it was pointed out that the long-term unprofitability of cotton production in China was subject to different reasons such as the high cost of purchasing machinery and equipment in the Xinjiang cotton area and the high cost of manual flower picking in the cotton area of the Yellow River Basin. Suggestions on promoting and applying machine-picked cotton planting models in different cotton areas for full-process mechanized production were put forward. Xinjiang cotton areas should increase policy support to reduce the cost of purchasing and using agricultural machinery. Cotton areas in the Yellow River basin should vigorously promote the application of a mechanized cotton production model. Cotton areas in the Yangtze River basin should strengthen research on agronomic techniques and supporting equipment and proposed practical mechanized solutions.