Congressional Staff See Cotton Operations in Texas, Arizona

Seven Congressional staffers got a unique opportunity to observe cotton operations in the Southwest and Far West August 25-28 via a National Cotton Council-coordinated program.

August 28, 2003
Contact: Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030

Seven Congressional staffers got a unique opportunity to observe cotton operations in the Southwest and Far West August 25-28 via a National Cotton Council-coordinated program.

The NCC’s Congressional Staff Education/Orientation Program, which is supported by a Monsanto Company grant to The Cotton Foundation, helps U.S. cotton strengthen an important alliance with the federal government.

"By giving key congressional staffers a firsthand look at the industry’s infrastructure and interaction with its leadership, government research agencies and agribusiness, the project is enhancing the Council’s efforts in seeking direct economic assistance for its members and indirect help in the form of additional research and market development funds," said Larkin Martin, an Alabama cotton producer who serves as Foundation president.

While in the Lubbock area, the Congressional staffers saw the High Plains Breeding Project at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center as well as a drip irrigation demonstration and an orientation to High Plains production systems at the David Jones farm in Posey. Helping in that presentation were Texas A&M Extension specialists and other producers, including American Cotton Producers Chairman Mark Williams.

The group also toured the USDA-ARS Gin Lab and the Ranching Heritage Center. The staffers also were briefed on the Texas cotton industry from executives with the Plains Cotton Growers, Rolling Plains Cotton Growers and Southern Rolling Plains Cotton Growers associations and the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation.

While in the Phoenix, AZ, area, the group took a helicopter tour of the Salt River Project and visited: a USDA Classing Office, the Arizona Cotton Research and Protection Council, where they learned about the aflatoxin control project, and USDA’s Pink Bollworm Rearing Lab.

"I grew up around agriculture, but many of my fellow staffers did not, they’ve never been to a cotton farm, gin or oil mill," said Russell Williams, an assistant to Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM). "This tour was helpful to all of us, to hear from farmers and others in the industry about the challenges they face."

Joining Williams on the tour were staffers: Andrew House (Rep. Devin Nunes, R-CA); Mike Holland (Rep. Bill Thomas, R-CA); Rodney Glassman (Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-AZ); Spencer Ritchie (Rep. Sam Johnson, R-TX); Deborah Shelby (Rep. Ernest Istook, R-OK); and William Hensley (Rep. Cal Dooley, D-CA).

Earlier in August, another Congressional staff group visited Cotton Incorporated’s headquarters in Cary, NC; the USDA classing office in Bartlett, TN; an eastern Arkansas farming operation and NCC headquarters in Memphis.

In Mississippi, they toured Monsanto’s Experiment Station, another USDA-ARS Gin Lab, were given research overviews by USDA’s Agriculture Research Service and Mississippi State University, and saw a cotton farm. They also toured the Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans.