The Cotton Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2005 as The Foundation for Cotton Research and Education, the direct ancestor of today’s Cotton Foundation, was incorporated in July of 1955.
Just as the Foundation’s original certificate of incorporation called for a half century ago, today’s Foundation vigorously carries out its mission of encouraging, facilitating and conducting cotton research and education. However, the Foundation yields its support to projects that can help the National Cotton Council (NCC) carry out its mission of providing U.S. cotton industry members a world marketplace advantage.
The first recorded projects of The Foundation for Cotton Research and Education included Investigations to Identify Substance(s) in Cotton Plant Which Attracts Boll Weevil for Feeding and Reproduction; A Basic Investigation of Fruiting Control in Cotton; Fundamental Study of the Resilience Properties of Chemically Modified Cotton; and Cotton Quality Evaluation Research. They were funded at a total of $83,000.
In 1970, the name was changed to The Cotton Foundation and today’s mission is providing vision and leadership to the cotton industry through research and education in support of the National Cotton Council (NCC) and allied industries.
In recent years the Foundation has been able to maintain 70-plus members even in an environment of mergers and consolidations. These agribusiness firms' dues go entirely in support of 30 general research and education projects, which are being funded at a $376,000 level for the 2005-06 Foundation fiscal year. Investments and Washington building rental income do provide a portion of the funding for these projects but member dues serve as the largest source.
The 2005-06 Foundation general projects are supporting work in such important arenas as yield and quality enhancement; precision farming, pest management and air quality and other regulatory concern. For example, projects range from “Electronic Publication of the Journal of Cotton Science” to “Confronting Quality Challenges.”
The U.S. cotton industry is enjoying a healthy return on investment from these endeavors, too. NCC staff estimates that taking into account cash and in-kind services, the Foundation’s general projects enjoy a return of about $3 for every dollar devoted to these projects.
It is hard to put a price on the payoff the industry receives from the Foundation’s 12 special projects, which increased in earnest beginning in the mid-1980s. These efforts, funded by grants over and above member dues, have enjoyed unwavering support even during economic downturns that cramped member firm budgets. In addition, individual Foundation member firms continue to support the NCC’s Cotton’s Week newsletter and the daily Cotton eNews electronic newsletter.
With the solid backing from its agribusiness allies, U.S. cotton will continue to benefit from investigations and technology advances produced by the world’s foremost scientists and research institutions.
Allen B. Helms, Jr., Chairman
The Cotton Foundation
(Helms served as 2004-05 Cotton Foundation president)
