By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Cotton Commission reminds growers and industry leaders that its annual meeting is set for Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia.
Taylor Sills, executive director of the GCC, discussed the scheduled speakers and what the UGA Extension Cotton Team has in store for this year’s event.
“We’re really excited, got a great group of sponsors. We’ve added sponsors every year, so there’s obviously a belief that we put on a really good program. I hope that growers and other members of the industry and interested people will come,” Sills said. “We’ve got Dr. Ryan Kurtz, vice president of Ag and environmental research at Cotton Incorporated. He’s going to come and update us on the efforts that Cotton Incorporated is putting into research and Extension work on growers’ behalf.
“Our industry is going into an interesting year with this down market and high input prices, so we’re very curious as to what he’s going to have to offer us. We really appreciate him coming.
“Then we have Dr. Mark Masters with the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center over at Albany State, he’s the guy for water in the state of Georgia. Water has been a hot topic for decades in Georgia. He’s going to come and talk about what’s next for water issues facing agricultural producers across the state.
“Then we have Tas Smith. A lot of people remember his time at the Georgia Farm Bureau. He is vice president of producer affairs at the National Cotton Council. He’s going to come and give us a policy update on the council’s policy efforts as we go into this next Farm Bill as well as some of the regulatory issues that we face.”