Improved Decision-Making Is "Beltwide" Goal

The 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences’ (BWCC) can help its attendees improve production, processing and marketing efficiency by providing them with insight into the latest available tools and research findings.

October 28, 2016
Contact: Marjory Walker
(901) 274-9030

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences’ (BWCC) can help its attendees improve production, processing and marketing efficiency by providing them with insight into the latest available tools and research findings.

Those planning to attend the concurrent conferences, set for January 4-6 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas, are urged to register and make their hotel reservations. Information regarding those arrangements is on the BWCC website at www.cotton.org/beltwide/. That site also includes the preliminary online program and general information about the BWCC.

The 2017 BWCC will begin at noon on January 4 with the half-day Cotton Consultants Conference –open to all attendees. That Conference will focus on topics of interest selected by a panel of consultants. Among presentations scheduled thus far are: 1) updates on the status of and educational efforts for the use of auxin herbicides on transgenic cottons by Dow and Monsanto, 2) “The Smartirrigation Cotton App with a National Footprint,” a unique irrigation scheduling tool originally limited to Georgia and Florida that now is usable across the entire U.S. Cotton Belt and 3) “Target Spot and Bacterial Blight” that will shed light on cultivar responses to various diseases that affect cotton.

The Consultants’ Conference also will feature the “New Developments from Industry” session that includes reports on new varieties, chemistries, equipment and other emerging technologies.

The BWCC cotton technical conferences, which will provide updates on research and a look into the technology pipeline, will meet concurrently beginning on the morning of January 5 and conclude by noon on January 6.

Among the useful information that can be gleaned from those sessions will be entomologists’ updates on the latest research with regard to several classes of insecticides and reports on successful weed management strategies. For example, the Weed Science Research Conference will include a presentation on achieving crop safety and weed control using varieties resistant to auxin herbicides.

For 2017, the cotton agronomy, physiology, and soil technical conferences will be combined into one conference with multiple sessions. Some topics being considered for this conference are a highly comprehensive simulation model of cotton physiology, nitrogen management for subsurface drip-irrigated cotton and quality/yield evaluation trials across the Cotton Belt.

The Ginning Conference will include several presentations critical to efficient processing and marketing such as module averaging and lint contamination prevention, specifically the challenge presented by various plastic contaminants in seed cotton. This conference will include a panel discussion on the issues associated with ginning cotton varieties with small seed size. Beginning on the afternoon of January 4, the National Cotton Ginners’ Association will hold several committee and subcommittee meetings. A schedule of those meetings is at http://www.cotton.org/ncga/index.cfm.

In addition to the multitude of oral presentations, most of the technical conferences and the Consultants Conference will feature poster sessions that also include results from studies conducted by world-class researchers.

Registration costs before December 16 for the NCC-coordinated forum are: $200 for NCC/Cotton Foundation members, university and USDA researchers, Extension personnel, associations and consultants; $400 for non-NCC/Foundation members; and $80 for students. On-site conference self-registration kiosks will be available 24 hours a day beginning on the evening of January 3. Starting on the morning of January 4, NCC staff will be available for attendees needing assistance with registration and name badge printing.

The Beltwide Cotton Conferences annually brings together those with a stake in a healthy U.S. cotton production sector, among them university and USDA researchers, Extension personnel/agents, consultants, and industry sales/support personnel.