Communications

he National Cotton Council (NCC) escalated its defense of current farm legislation while raising the public’s awareness about agriculture’s importance to and impact on regional economies. Producers and rural business owners were interviewed for print and video releases distributed to media outlets in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Kansas, as well as to Congressional members.

Georgia cotton producer Mike Newberry was interviewed as part of a NCC communications effort to highlight the importance of agriculture and farm programs to rural communities.

This effort paralleled the NCC’s continued partnership with the National Association of Wheat Growers and other agricultural organizations in “Home Grown” – a national public relations campaign designed to magnify the message that U.S. farmers’ provide safe, bountiful and affordable food and fiber.

The NCC also continued to communicate U.S. cotton’s contributions to this nation through the NCC’s “Cotton Counts” educational campaign. That awareness effort is being carried out primarily by the National Cotton Women’s Committee volunteers who participated in national Ag in the Classroom seminars to increase their effectiveness at reaching students.

Conveying to lawmakers the magnitude of the pre-harvest hurricane damage to Southeastern cotton production was a major communications’ initiative. The NCC generated and distributed print and radio news reports that were picked up by numerous local and national outlets, including the Associated Press.

The NCC also arranged for writers and broadcasters to join U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Allen Johnson when he toured cotton operations in the Mid-South and talked to industry members about the Administration’s trade priorities.

Foreign and domestic journalists showed continued interest in U.S. cotton in light of

The Helping Americans Vote program was highly successful in helping voters obtain information on early voting.

the Brazil case and ruling against the U.S. cotton program and the World Trade Organization negotiations that spotlighted the commodity. The NCC coordinated numerous interviews for broadcasters and writers who sought interviews with cotton industry members and NCC staff.

Participation in the “Helping Americans Vote” campaign helped provide information about voter registration and early and absentee voting. That included a series of email and Cotton’s Week messages encouraging NCC members, and their employees, family and friends, to vote in their primaries and the November election.