MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Eddie Smith, a Floydada, TX, cotton producer, was elected chairman of the National Cotton Council (NCC) for 2010. Named during the NCC’s annual meeting held here on February 8-12, he served as the NCC’s vice chairman in 2009 and succeeds Jon W. Hardwick, a Newellton, LA., cotton producer.
Following graduation from Texas Tech University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics, Smith began farming full-time. Today, he maintains a cotton, cattle and grain operation near Floydada in partnership with his father, Ed, and son, Eric.
Smith has served on numerous Council committees including its Environmental Task Force, and also completed the Council’s Cotton Leadership Program in 1991.
He has served as a director of Floydada Cooperative Gin and was elected to the board of directors of Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) in 1984. He was unanimously elected chairman of PCCA in 2004.
In addition, Smith is a past chairman and long-time director of Cotton Incorporated, and has served as that organization’s treasurer, secretary and vice chairman. He also was a member of the Blue Ribbon Farm Bill Committee of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and served as vice chairman of its Trade Working Group. He currently is a director of the Texas Agricultural Cooperative Council.
Smith is a deacon at the Floydada Baptist Church. He and his wife, JenniSu, have one son, Eric, daughter-in-law, Leigh, and two grandsons, Ethan and Logan.
The NCC’s vice chairman for 2010 is Charles H. Parker, a Senath, MO, producer.
Elected as NCC vice presidents were: COOPERATIVE - Meredith B. Allen, Greenwood, MS, GINNER - Sid Brough, Edroy, TX; COTTONSEED - John C. Fricke, Pine Bluff, AR; and MERCHANT - G.W. Winburne, Peoria, AZ.
Re-elected as NCC vice presidents were: WAREHOUSE - Shane Stephens, Greenwood, MS; and TEXTILE MANUFACTURER – Anderson C. Warlick, Gastonia, NC.
Craig D. Shook, a Corpus Christi, TX, producer, was re-elected secretary-treasurer.
NCC staff officers include: Dr. Mark Lange, NCC president/chief executive officer; John Maguire, senior vice president, Washington Operations; Allen Terhaar, vice president, Foreign Affairs; Dr. Gary Adams, vice president, Economics and Policy Analysis; Craig Brown, vice president, Producer Affairs; Dr. Bill Norman, vice president, Technical Services; Harrison Ashley, vice president, Ginner Services; and Fred Johnson, vice president, Administration and Program Coordination.
