The Cotton Foundation

he Cotton Foundation vigorously carried out its mission of encouraging, facilitating and conducting cotton research and education during 2003. The payoff is new products, systems, techniques and services that help the National Cotton Council carry out its mission of providing U.S. cotton industry members a world marketplace advantage. All Foundation-supported projects are aimed at developing these tools to help industry members reduce their fiber production, processing and handling costs – and improve bottom lines.

For 2002-2003, the Foundation was able to provide more than $425,500 in support of 36 general research and education efforts. Those projects ranged from finding additional cottonseed product value-added uses to using precision farming for meeting the federal government’s total maximum daily load requirements on streams and watersheds. The Foundation’s 2003 Report to Members, which describes Foundation project activities in 2002-03, is available at http://foundation.cotton.org.

The Foundation is applying $420,000 in support of 33 general projects in 2004. The projects range from such new efforts as “Development of Cotton Based Nonwoven Chemical Warfare Protective Substrates” to such ongoing work as California researchers’ evaluations of field plant and soil samples to confirm Fusarium infection and identification of different Fusarium groups or strains.

Precision farming projects, logically, are receiving a sizeable focus. The Foundation had a small, but important role in the blossoming of that technology. Seed money was provided in cooperation with NASA and the Department of Energy in the late 1990s to ensure that hyperspectral remote sensing technology could be adapted for agriculture use.

Aflatoxin control has been another focus. The Foundation welcomed EPA’s June 2003 approval for use of the biopesticide Aspergillus flavus AF36 in Arizona and Texas. Since the mid-1990s, the Foundation has supported USDA Agricultural Research Service-led field trials and commercialization of AF36 in these states to combat this natural carcinogen that greatly reduces cottonseed market value.

Members of the 2003-04 Cotton Leadership Class are from left: Stoney Hargett, Daniel LaFar, III, Craig Ivey, Teresa McMillan, Bryan Wells, Mike Nettles, David Dunlow, Ron Nickell, Robert Buckles and Greg Wuertz.

Non-dues grants from some of the 72 member firms is enabling the Foundation to sustain 14 special projects. This includes the longest running special project - the Cotton Leadership Program of which 2003 NCC Chairman Bobby Greene and 2003 Cotton Council International President Bobby Carson were graduates.

This past year, the Foundation continued to expand its role of facilitating alliances between member firms and the NCC - for underwriting key NCC activities. For example, multiple-member financial support was gained for two major initiatives launched in 2003. The Cotton Biotechnology Registration and Communication project seeks to strengthen the industry’s position for supporting continued registration of and permits for biotechnology products. The Cotton Pesticide Registration and Education project provides a vehicle for plant protection and plant health product registrants to work with the NCC to strengthen the association’s ability to ensure access to a safe and effective spectrum of new and existing cotton plant protection products.

In addition, individual Foundation member firms continued to provide direct support for core NCC communications vehicles: the Cotton’s Week newsletter, the AgDay Cotton’s Week program and Cotton eNews.