Southwestern Cotton Producers to See Mid-South Operations

Eleven cotton producers from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas will see cotton operations in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi on July 30-Aug. 2 as part of the NCC’s '12 Producer Information Exchange program.

July 26, 2012
Contact: Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030

MEMPHIS – Eleven cotton producers from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas will see cotton operations in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi on July 30-August 2 as part of the National Cotton Council's 2012 Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) program.

Sponsored by Bayer CropScience through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, the P.I.E. program is in its 24th year of helping its U.S. producer participants improve yields and fiber quality.  The program aims to help cotton producers boost their overall operation's efficiency by: 1) gaining new perspectives in such fundamental practices as land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting and 2) observing firsthand the unique ways in which their innovative peers are using current technology.

The group will begin their activities on July 30 in West Tennessee with a visit to the Stoneville Breeding Facility at Agricenter International in Memphis before touring the University of Tennessee AgResearch & Education Center in Milan and Hargett Farms in Bells. The next day they will travel to Missouri to see irrigation on Parker Farm in Senath and tour Farmer's Union Gin in Holcomb before visiting Bayer CropScience's Test Facility in Clarkedale, AR, for updates on weed resistance and new varieties.

On August 1, the group will return to West Tennessee for individual farm tours in Fayette County. The next day will be spent in Mississippi where they will get a briefing on the Delta and Delta cotton production from the Delta Council and a market outlook for cotton from Staplcotn Cooperative before participating on individual farm tours with producers in the Clarksdale area.

The Southwest participants include: Texas – Zak Adams, Agua Dulce; Bryan Baker and Kris Humphreys, both from Sudan; Dee Dusek, Eola; Roger Gist, IV, Hereford; Allen Jansa, Garden City; John McDowell, Jr., Shamrock; and Joe Posey, Roby; Oklahoma – Adam Bohl, Chattanooga; and Derrick Burnam, Mangum; and Kansas – Kal White, Oxford.

Southeastern producers toured California's San Joaquin Valley in mid-July in the first 2012 P.I.E. tour. The two remaining tours will have Far West producers visiting North Carolina on August 5-10, and Mid-South producers touring Texas on August 19-24.

Upon completion of this year's four tours, the P.I.E. program will have exposed more than 1,000 U.S. cotton producers to innovative production practices in regions different than their own.