2006-07 Cotton Leadership Class Completes First Session

The NCC's 2006-07 cotton leadership class completed its first of five week-long development sessions September 25-29 in the Mid-South.

October 2, 2006
Contact: Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030

MEMPHIS – The National Cotton Council’s (NCC) 2006-07 cotton leadership class completed its first of five week-long development sessions September 25-29 in the Mid-South.

The 10-member class began their inaugural session in Memphis with an orientation to the NCC and communications training at NCC headquarters and with visits to Cargill and DuPont offices.

While in West Tennessee they saw cottonseed storage at the Mid-South Company in Covington; toured the Milan Compress and Milan Experiment Station in Milan; and saw cotton harvesting at Crescent Farms in Alamo. Key Mississippi Delta activities were tours of the Delta Oil Mill in Jonestown and the Bobo-Mosely Gin in Lyon and a look at cotton and soybean production at Maud Farms in Tunica. The group also was updated on precision agriculture technology at InTime, Inc., in Clarksdale.

The new class, which was announced in August, will visit with industry leaders, tour production and processing operations, and observe research activities over the next year. They also will attend the NCC’s 2007 Annual Meeting, visit with lawmakers in Washington, DC, and participate in orientation sessions at Cotton Incorporated, the New York Board of Trade and the headquarters of DuPont Crop Protection, which supports the Cotton Leadership Program with a grant to The Cotton Foundation.

Members of the 2006-07 class include: Producers –David Cochran, Greenville, MS; Patrick Johnson, Tunica, MS; Tammy Leonards, Lettsworth, LA; and Clint Webb, Boston, GA; Ginner - Scott Matlock, Sebastian Cotton & Grain, Sebastian, TX; Warehouse - Eric Wanjura, Farmers Coop Compress, Plainview, TX; Cottonseed - Brandon Winters, Producers Coop Oil Mill, Oklahoma City, OK; Merchant – Ricky Stone, Cargill Company, Lubbock, TX; Marketing Cooperative – Wayne Boseman,Carolinas Cotton Growers Cooperative, Garner, NC; and Manufacturer – Bryan Gregory, American Cotton Growers Denim Mill, Littlefield, TX.

More than 200 industry members have participated in the Cotton Leadership Program, beginning with the inaugural 1983-84 class.