Mississippi Producer to Serve as NCC Chairman For 2002

Kenneth Hood, a Gunnison, MS, cotton producer, was elected as National Cotton Council chairman - the organization’s top position - at the NCC’s annual meeting here today. He served as NCC’s vice chairman during 2001 and succeeds Memphis merchant James E. Echols, who will serve as chairman of the NCC’s Executive Committee this year.

February 11, 2002
Contact: Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030

DALLAS, TX - Kenneth Hood, a Gunnison, MS, cotton producer, was elected National Cotton Council chairman - the organization’s top position - at the NCC’s Annual Meeting here today. He served as NCC’s vice chairman during 2001 and succeeds Memphis merchant James E. Echols, who will serve as chairman of the NCC’s Executive Committee this year.

Hood has been highly active in the NCC, having served as a NCC vice chairman, treasurer and director and as chairman of its Farm Program and Economic Policy Committee.

He has been active in other national and regional organizations. He is a former president of the Delta Council and has served as president of the National Cotton Ginners Association (NCGA), the Southern Cotton Ginners and Mississippi Cotton Ginners associations. Hood also has chaired the American Farm Bureau Federation’s cotton committee

A partner in Perthshire Farms, Hood has been farming in the Mississippi Delta since 1962. He also is a partner in H.B. Hood & Sons Gin Company and is owner of a farm equipment dealership. The Mississippi State University graduate holds numerous awards, including Cotton Farming Magazine’s Farmer of the Year in 1988, Progressive Farmer Magazine’s Man of the Year in Service to Mississippi Agriculture in 1994, the New York Cotton Exchange Cotton Marketer of the Year in 1992, the NCGA’s 1997 Ginner of the Year and Delta Council’s Outstanding Conservation Farmer in 2000.

Other NCC officers elected for 2002 include: Robert W. Greene, ginner, Courtland, AL, vice chairman; Allen Helms, producer, Clarkedale, AR; secretary-treasurer; and Robert E. McLendon, producer, Leary, GA, Operations Committee chairman.

Re-elected vice presidents were: W. Duke Kimbrell, manufacturer, Gastonia, NC; and Fred Underwood, warehouseman, Wayne Martin, crusher, and Van A. May, cooperative official, all of Lubbock, TX.

Re-elected as NCC staff officers were: Gaylon B. Booker, president and chief executive officer; and Craig Brown, vice president, Producer Affairs; and Dr. Mark Lange, vice president, Policy Analysis and Program Coordinator, all of Memphis, TN; and John Maguire, vice president Washington Operations, and Allen Terhaar, vice president International Affairs, Washington.