By Clint Thompson
Wednesday, Jan. 26 was a day for reunions and planning during the annual Georgia Cotton Commission (GCC) meeting at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia.
After the 2021 meeting was moved to a virtual format amid COVID-19, this year’s in-person meeting was held for the first time in two years. It was an important event for the state’s cotton growers, says GCC executive director Taylor Sills.
“The last year and a half we haven’t done many in-person meetings, really two years. (Wednesday’s) important for a lot of reasons. A lot of our farmers across the state visit with each other from time to time, and they haven’t been able to do that. That’s important. Fellowship’s important,” Sills said. “But also, we have our UGA Cotton Production Workshops. A lot of people will go to their county production meetings through their local Extension and see two or three specialists at a meeting. But here we offer all of them as well as a lot of the research specialists that you may not have as close of an access to the rest of the year. We’ve got a great group of sponsors and crowd that have shown up today and a good program for the commission program as well.”
Never Too Early to Start Planning for Upcoming Season
While the planting season is still months away, growers use events like the GCC meeting to make preparations.
“Inputs are high, we know this. The market’s high, it’s up just as much as the inputs are in a lot of ways. Farmers have new decisions this year. I would assume our soil fertility session would be heavily attended as folks make those changes in their farming operations from year to year and adapt to market conditions that we have today.”
The Georgia Quality Cotton Awards for the 2021 year were also presented as well.