U.S. certified ginners, gin managers and superintendents are urged to register for one of the two remaining 2024 Ginner Schools. Online registration is at www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm.
The remaining school locations and dates are: Western Ginners School at the Southwest Ginning Research Laboratory Mesilla Park, NM, on May 7-9; and the Mid-South-Southeast Ginners School at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA on June 4-6. The Mid-South-Southeast school will return to the Stoneville, MS location in 2025.
Course descriptions also can be found at www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm. The schools will continue to offer the Levels I, II and III as well as the continuing education courses. The three schools' programming is coordinated by the National Cotton Ginners' Association (NCGA), working with USDA’s Greg Holt and the three USDA ginning laboratories.
Programming for Levels I, II and III will feature practical information on all aspects of ginning. Among topics to be covered are seed cotton drying/cleaning through the ginning process and gin waste disposal methods. The schools' overall emphasis will be on increasing ginning efficiency, turning out high quality fiber and a focus on improving safety. The Ginner Schools' Continuing Education Courses will include topics such as gin property insurance, fire detection and prevention, RFID technology, data collection, gin automation, precleaning for all conditions, bale packaging and contamination prevention, and classing and module averaging.
School cooperators include USDA's Agricultural Research Service, NCGA and its member associations, the NCC, the Texas Cotton Ginners Trust, Cotton Incorporated, gin machinery/equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and select land grant universities.