|
Electronic Publication of the Journal of Cotton Science Over the past decade, the quarterly, on-line Journal of Cotton Science (JCS) has evolved into an important communications tool for the cotton scientific community – helping to keep the U.S. cotton industry competitive through ready access to multi-disciplinary research in areas ranging from agronomy to textile technology. JCS, available at http://journal.cotton.org, offers scientists a rapid outlet for their findings. During 2005, 30 manuscripts were published in JCS, which now has received and placed into peer review more than 300 manuscripts. JCS manuscripts contain an abstract that explains the research’s value in layman’s terms. Published as Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files for optimum versatility and access ease, JCS, which is copyrighted, was the first all-electronic journal to be indexed in AGRICOLA, the database of the National Agricultural Library. Patrick D. Colyer, LouisianaStateUniversity, serves as editor-in-chief.
Enhancing Cotton Industry Education and Information through the National Cotton Council Web Site The NCC’s web site, www.cotton.org, is critical to information flow within the cotton industry. The site, which sees about 9,000 page hits per day, also supports sites for the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, the National Cotton Ginners Association and The Cotton Foundation, including several Foundation special projects. In 2005, the site began supporting the American Innerspring Manufacturers’ web site. Other improvements included an upgrade that enhanced the Beltwide Cotton Conferences’ registration and check-in processes. The site continues to be enhanced with upgrades of content management, application server and web site statistics reporting software along with server hardware.
Support for the 4th World Cotton Research Conference The 4th World Cotton Research Conference, to be hosted by the United States in September 2007, is expected to draw between 600-800 cotton researchers and other industry participants. The forum will provide extraordinary opportunities for: 1) interested U.S. personnel to obtain information from international researchers and 2) showcasing the U.S. cotton industry’s leadership in research, quality and efficiency. This project will support the efforts of the International Organizing Committee which is making arrangements for the four-day event in Lubbock, TX, including agenda development, the review process for submitted papers and planning of tours for attendees. Following the Conference, proceedings will be published and provided to registered attendees.
Support U.S. Cotton Leadership Orientation in China
With China’s increased role in the global cotton and textile economy, this effort is aimed at lessening trade frictions and smoothening and expanding trade between the U.S. and China cotton industries. The specific objective is to improve bilateral understanding between the industries in order to anticipate issues and to improve mutual understanding so that concerns are addressed directly rather than spiraling into trade confrontations that are detrimental to both parties.
As a follow-up to numerous staff exchanges between the National Cotton Council and the recently formed China Cotton Association, mid-career individuals from the U.S. cotton industry will travel to China in fall 2006 to gain a deeper understanding of the entire Chinese cotton production/marketing system as well as the institutions that support it. A similar Chinese delegation will travel to the United States in 2007 to do the same. The U.S. industry team’s experiences/information gained will be shared at various industry committee and board meetings.
The bulk of this project’s expenses will be underwritten by $100,000 of Foreign Market Development funds that Cotton Council International obtained from USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service.
|
|
